REDEDICATING  AMERICA 

Life  and  Recent  Speeches  of 

WARREN  G.  HARDING 

8, 

FREDERICK  E.  SCHORTEMEIER 


Formerly  Private  Secretary  to  United  States 

Senator  Harry  S.  New;  now  Secretary 

Indiana  Republican  State 

Committee 


WITH  FOREWORD  BY  WILL  H. 

Republican  National  Chairman 


INDIANAPOLIS 

THE  BO3BS-MERRILL  COMPANY 
PUBLISHERS 


COPYRIGHT  1920 
THE  BOBBS- MERRILL  COMPANY 


Printed  in  the  United  States  of  America 


PRESS  or 

BRAUNWORTH    ft    CO. 

BOOK    MANUFACTURERS 

BROOKLYN,    N.    V. 


FOREWORD 

SENATOR  HARDING  possesses  just  those  vital  quali 
ties  of  mind  and  heart  necessary  to-day  and  in  the 
time  just  ahead.  His  poise  of  mind,  his  soundness  of 
judgment,  his  hold  on  fundamentals,  his  appreciation 
of  the  needs  of  to-day  and  of  to-morrow,  his  love  of 
the  people  from  whom  he  came  and  of  whom  he  is 
one,  and  his  faith  in  them;  his  magnificent  grasp  of 
large  affairs,  his  great  native  ability  and  his  training 
in  statesmanship,  his  regard  for  the  opinion  of  others, 
his  experience  and  success  in  the  handling  of  men,  his 
proper  appreciation  of  his  country's  position  as  a  re 
sponsible  factor  in  the  world's  future,  but  with  the 
fullest  realization  of  the  absolute  importance  of  our 
own  supreme  nationalism,  his  sterling  Americanism, 
his  righteous  character  and  manhood,  and  withal  his 
thorough  humanness,  all  qualify  him  in  the  most  ex 
ceptional  degree  for  the  tremendous  responsibilities 
which  will  soon  be  his.  He  will  make  a  splendid  candi 
date  and  a  great  president.  The  country  will  love  him, 
honor  him,  trust  him  and  follow  him,  just  as  all  who 
know  him  love  and  trust  him,  and  the  world  will  honor 
him. 

WILL  H.  HAYS. 
AUGUST  1,  1920 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

I    WARREN  GAMALIEL  HARDING          11 

II     SPEECH  OF  ACCEPTANCE.  Address  at  Formal  No 
tification  of  His  Nomination  for  the  Presidency, 

at  Marion,  Ohio,  July  22,  1920 34 

Constitution  Charts  the  Way — Popular  Gov 
ernment  to  Be  Restored — Republican  Senators 
Saved  America — Will  Preserve  American  In 
dependence — To  Restore  Formal  Peace — In 
dependent  Aid  to  World  Justice — To  Restore 
Constitution  Must  Encourage  Competition — 
Increased  Production  Great  Need — Industrial 
Cooperation  Urged — Classism  Decried — De 
liberate  Readjustment  Sought — The  Railroad 
Problem — Highway  Development  Advocated — 
Deflation  of  Finance — Thrift  and  Economy 
Essential — Agricultural  Cooperation  Urged — • 
Irrigation  and  Reclamation — Specific  Pro 
posals — Importance  of  Law  Enforcement — 
Tribute  to  World  War  Veterans— Woman 
Suffrage — Confidence  in  America. 

Ill  SAFEGUARDING  AMERICA.  Address  on  the  League 
of  Nations  in  the  United  States  Senate,  Sep 
tember  11,  1919 62 

Nationality  Is  Paramount — Involvements  of 
League — America  Essential  Factor  in  War — 
Secret  Bartering  Unheeded — America's  Inter 
ests  Ignored — Nothing  Substantial  Offered — 
Supergovernment  Created — Disarmament  Not 
Accomplished — Arbitration  Not  Assured — Ar 
ticle  Ten  Mere  Phantom — Fought  for  Amer 
ican  Rights — Many  Peoples  Not  Heard — 
Avenue  to  Unending  War — To  Preserve 
Americanism — Why  America  Entered  War- 
Proclamation  of  Neutrality  Recalled — Forced 
to  Declare  War— Our  Task  Completed— Not 
Committed  to  League — Autocracy  of  Peace — 
Nationality  Sacrificed — American  Conscience 
Fixes  Obligation — Respect  for  American 


CONTENTS— Continued 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

Rights — Significance  of  Nationalism — Amer 
ican  Safety  at  Stake — Patriots  Save  America 
— Reservations  Are  Essential — Righteousness 
Is  Goal — Must  Preserve  Inheritance — Must 
Save  Soul  of  America. 

••       IV    AMERICANISM.      Address  Delivered  before  the 
Ohio  Society  of  New  York,  at  the  Waldorf  Ho 
tel,  New  York  City,  January  10,  1920      ...     103 
Birth  of  Americanism — Constitution  Is  Sacred 
— Duty  of  Citizenship — Must  Practise  Amer 
icanism — Devotion  to  Duty — Back  to  Normal 
— Supremacy  of  Law — Civil  Liberty  at  Stake 
—Honest  Living  Is  Solution — Must  Preserve 
Nationalism — America  First. 

V    THEODORE  ROOSEVELT.    Ohio  Legislative  Memo 
rial  Address  before  a  Joint  Convention  of  the 
Eighty-third  General  Assembly,  January  29,  1919    115 
Eminent  American — Exalted  by  Americanism 
—  Sought     Foreign     Service  —  Extraordinary 
Manhood — Man    of    Action — Awakened    Na 
tional  Conscience — Made  America  Better. 

VI    RELATIONS  WITH   THEODORE  ROOSEVELT.    Public 

Address  at  Topeka,  Kansas,  March  8,  1920     .     .     123 

WILLIAM   McKiNLEY.     Address  at  the  McKin- 
ley  Memorial  Dinner,  Niles,  Ohio,  January  29, 

1920 125 

Pioneer  of  Expansion — American  Nationalist 
— A  Partisan  Republican — Cooperated  with 
Congress  —  Political  Parties  Essential  —  Re 
stored  Prosperity  in  1896 — Apostle  of  Protect 
ive  Tariff — His  Leadership  Is  Inspiration — 
Memory  Gives  Confidence. 

GEORGE  WASHINGTON.    Address  Delivered  Feb 
ruary     22,     1918,     at     Washington's     Birthday 
Celebration  before  the  Sons  and  Daughters  of 
the  Revolution,  at  Washington,  D.  C.      ...     136 
Founders  Divinely  Inspired — Developed  Amer 
ican  Soul — Duty  to  Preserve  Republic — Advice 
of   Washington  —  Factionalism    Decried  —  To 
Preserve  National  Rights. 

IX    ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.     Address    before    Lincoln 

Club,  Portland,  Maine,  February  13,  1920     .     .     145 


CONTENTS-~C0**»fttt*d 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

Duty  of  Citizenship — Exponent  of  Nationality 
— America  Affords  Equal  Opportunity. 

X  GENERAL  GRANT'S  REPUBLICANISM.  Address  at 
Grant  Dinner,  Middlesex  Club,  Boston,  Massa 
chusetts,  1916 149 

Political  Principles  Important — Equal  Oppor 
tunity  Is  Basis — Republicanism  Means  Pros 
perity — Need  Protective  Policies — Sane  Pro- 
gressivism  Needed — Renewed  Consecration — 
Home  Production  Urged — The  Awakened 
Conscience. 

XI    VOTE  ON  DECLARATION  OF  WAR  WITH  GERMANY. 
Address    in    the    Senate   of    the   United    States, 

Wednesday,  April  4,  1917 164 

Not  Fighting  in  Name  of  Democracy — To 
Maintain  American  Rights  —  To  Preserve 
America — Guarantee  of  Nationality. 

XII    AMERICA  IN  THE  WAR.     Address  at  the  Ohio 
Republican  State  Convention,  Columbus,  Ohio, 

August  27,  1918 170 

Partisanism  Forgotten  —  Republicans  Sup 
ported  War — New  Birth  of  National  Soul — 
Republicans  Urge  Concord  —  Investigations 
Prove  Helpful — Reconstruction  Ahead — Not 
the  President's  War — Internationalism  Decried  *~ 
— Democratic  Extravagance  Attacked. 

XIII  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY  AND  AMERICA.    Address 
before  the  Republican  Rally  at  Memorial  Hall, 
Columbus,  Ohio,  February  23,  1920   (Washing 
ton's  Birthday) 182 

Civilization  Never  Stands  Still— We  Were  Neg 
lectful — Parties  Government  Agencies — Dan 
ger  Mark  Was  Near — Country  Wants  Formal  " 
Peace — Why  Meddle  in  Europe — Need  Judg 
ment  of  the  Many — Has  No  Personal  Ends — 
Seeks  Stable  Ways  of  Peace — For  American 
Square  Deal — Dreamer  Needs  Awakening — 
Must  Reiterate  Wholesome  Policies — Believes 
in  Government  Aid — Ours  Not  Ungrateful  Re 
public. 

XIV  THE  PROBLEMS  OF  BUSINESS.     Address  before 
the  Providence  Chamber  of  Commerce,  at  Provi 
dence,  Rhode  Island,  February  25,  1920    ...     198 


.CONTENTS— Continued 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

Evolution  of  Modern  Business  —  America 
Greatest  Producer — Workmen  Not  Mere  Ma 
chines — Humanism  Should  be  Developed — • 
Many  Commissions  Useless — Too  Much  Reg 
ulation — Minimized  Production  Destructive — 
Collective  Bargaining  Favored — Increased  Pro 
duction  Needed. 

XV    THE    EXCESS    PROFITS    TAX.      Address    in    the 

United  States  Senate,  February  27,  1917  .  .  206 
Heavy  Tax  Burden  Necessary — What  Consti 
tutes  Real  Capital — Looking  Forward  to  Peace 
— Business  Should  Be  Encouraged — Foreign 
Producer  Should  Assist — Protective  Tariff 
v  Needed — Business  Needs  Encouragement — 
Washington's  Advice  Applicable — Tax  Is  Pen 
alty  on  Success. 

XVI  AUTO-INTOXICATION.  Address  before  Baltimore 
Press  Club,  at  Baltimore,  Maryland,  February 
5,  1920 218 

Too  Much  High  Living — Back  to  the  Constitu 
tion — Party  Government  Necessary — Heart  of 
America  Still  Sound — Government  Ownership 
Opposed. 

XVII  BACK  TO  NORMAL.  Address  before  Home  Mar 
ket  Club  at  Boston,  Massachusetts,  May  14,  1920  223 
Normal  Conditions  Great  Need  —  Formal 
Peace  Sought — Should  Seek  Understanding — 
Work  Is  Solution — Supremacy  of  Law — Pro 
duction  Is  Great  Need — Sober  Thinking 
Urged — Save  America  First 

XVIII    THE  PHILIPPINE  ISLANDS.  Address  in  the  United 

States  Senate,  Friday,  January  28,  1916     ...     230 
America  Has  Obligation — Not  Seeking  Terri 
tory — No  Oppression  of  Philippines — McKin- 
ley  Not   Selfish — Honorable  Withdrawal   Im 
possible — Commercial     Advantages     Shown — 
Filipinos  Need  America — American  Progress 
Must  Continue. 
XIX    SOME    SPECIFICATIONS.      Delivered    before    the 

Builders'  Exchange,  Cleveland,  Ohio     ....     240 
America  Prodigal  Gift  of  Creation — Makers 
of  America — Honest  Building  Essential — Con 
secration  to  Civic  Duty. 


CONTENTS— Continued 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

XX    THE  KNOX  RESOLUTION.    Address  in  the  United 
States   Senate,   May  11,   1920,  on  Resolution  to 

Declare  State  of  War  Ended 247 

President  Was  Warned — Congress  Still  Func 
tions. 

XXI    THE   PEACE   TREATY.     Address   in   the   United 
States    Senate,    November    18,    1919,    \Vhen   the 
Final  Vote  on  the  Peace  Treaty  Was  Taken     .     250 
Reservations  Are  Essential — Majority  Able  to 
Reach    Agreement — Treaty    Negotiated    upon 
Misunderstanding — Minority    Did    Not    Seek 
Agreement — America    Must    Be    Preserved — •. 
Welcomes  Decision  of  People. 


Rededicating  America 

CHAPTER  I 
,WARREN  GAMALIEL  HARDING 

NATIONALISM  is  the  life  theme  of  Warren  Harding. 
When  the  delegates  to  the  Republican  National  Con 
vention  at  Chicago  called  Senator  Harding  as  the 
party's  leader  for  the  campaign  of  1920,  they  chose 
a  man  whose  controlling  passion  is,  and  has  ever 
been,  a  complete  devotion  to  America,  strong  and  free, 
sovereign  and  supreme.  As  Senator  Harding  be 
comes  better  known  to  the  American  people,  he  will 
stand  forth  as  the  greatest  nationalist  of  his  day.  Ever 
since  he  entered  public  life  as  a  member  of  the  Ohio 
legislature,  he  has  thought  in  terms  national.  His  de 
votion  to  the  national  ideal  is  the  composite  of  the 
belief  of  William  McKinley  in  representative  govern 
ment  and  the  absolute  Americanism  of  Theodore 
Roosevelt. 

The  Hardings  have  always  thought  in  terms  of  na 
tionalism.  For  three  centuries  those  of  his  family 
who  came  before  him  were  of  the  sturdy  stock  which 
early  made  its  way  to  our  colonial  shores  and  had 
its  part  in  the  making  of  America  as  this  country  grew 
to  be  the  best  expression  of  governmental  individual- 

11 


1 2     >jH  .KKDEDICATI^G  AMERICA 

ism  and  developed  nationality.  The  name  Harding  is 
as  old  as  the  Doomsday  Book  of  1086.  Before  America 
had  its  birth  as  a  nation,  many  Hardings  had  come  to 
cast  their  lot  in  the  New  England  colony ;  indeed,  his 
torical  records  show  that  at  least  six  Hardings  came  to 
America's  shores  a  century  before  the  Revolution. 
Abraham  Harding  came  to  Massachusetts,  his  widow, 
Elizabeth,  settled  in  Boston  ;  George  Harding  to  Salem, 
John  to  Weymouth,  Robert  to  Connecticut — all  before 
1650.  From  the  Connecticut  line  of  Robert  Harding 
came  Captain  Stephen  Harding,  whose  son,  Abraham 
Harding,  was  the  father  of  Amos  Harding.  The  latter 
was  the  direct  ancestor  of  Senator  Harding.  He 
reared  a  family  of  fourteen  boys,  all  of  whom  bore 
Biblical  names  with  the  exception  of  George  Tryon 
Harding,  who  was  the  father  of  Charles  Alexander 
Harding  and  William  Perry  Harding.  Charles  Alex 
ander  left  but  one  son,  George  Tryon  Harding,  father 
of  Senator  Harding. 

Warren  and  his  mother  were  genuinely  intimate  and 
affectionate.  She  was  an  ardent  member  of  the  Sev 
enth  Day  Adventists  and  had  the  reputation  of  being 
the  best  versed  woman  in  Biblical  literature  in  her 
community.  She  was  thoroughly  cultured  and  had 
read  widely.  Persons  who  knew  her  well  have  told 
me  that  when  Warren  was  a  mere  child,  not  over 
seven  years  old,  she  said  to  him  repeatedly,  "Warren, 
stay  with  your  books  and  some  day  you  will  be  presi 
dent  of  the  United  States." 

In  after  years  Warren  Harding  moved  to  Marion, 
while  his  parents  continued  to  reside  in  Caledonia,  a 
small  town  ten  miles  to  the  east.  For  years  it  was 


WARREN  GAMALIEL  HARDING          13 

Warren's  habit  to  go  to  his  mother's  home  early  every 
Sunday  morning  and  the  Sundays  he  missed  were  very 
few,  indeed.  By  eight  o'clock  he  was  usually  on  his 
way  to  the  old  homestead  armed  with  a  handful  of 
flowers.  For  nineteen  years  he  took  or  sent  flowers 
to  her  every  week  without  fail.  In  the  homecoming 
celebration  following  his  nomination,  D.  R.  Cris- 
singer,  his  fellow  townsman  who  made  the  welcoming 
address,  referred  graciously  to  this  tender,  weekly  trib 
ute  which  Senator  Harding  bestowed  on  his  mother. 
It  touched  Mr.  Harding  deeply  and  was  probably  the 
most  impressive  moment  of  the  celebration.  The  sen 
ator  worshiped  his  mother  and  he  did  not  endeavor  to 
conceal  his  heart's  regret  that  she  was  not  here  to  be 
present  at  the  homecoming.  A  stately  woman,  always 
of  good  cheer,  she  was  universally  loved.  She  was 
devoutly  religious  and  her  love  for  the  beautiful  and 
the  true  has  made  its  eternal  impress  upon  Warren's 
character.  She  died  in  1910. 

Senator  Harding's  father  has  been  granted  more 
than  his  three  score  and  ten  years,  a  kind  Providence 
giving  him  the  privilege  of  celebrating  his  seventy- 
sixth  natal  day  on  the  very  day  his  son  was  nominated 
for  the  highest  honor  at  the  bestowal  of  the  American 
people.  His  father  is  a  man  of  strong  personality, 
with  a  kindly  good  will  toward  all  the  world  and  with 
a  disposition  characterized  by  tenderness  and  sym 
pathy.  He  is  still  actively  engaged  in  the  practise  of 
medicine.  Of  course,  he  has  always  been  proud  of 
Warren.  In  his  modest  way,  however,  he  has  en 
deavored  to  conceal  his  deep  satisfaction  upon  his 
son's  nomination.  "I  am  not  much  excited,"  he  said 


14  REDEDICATING  AMERICA 

when  Harding  was  nominated,  but  the  truth  is  that  he 
did  not  eat  anything  that  day,  having  forgotten  his 
meals  altogether.  He  was  just  supremely  happy  and 
nobody  in  Marion  begrudges  him  the  genuine  delight 
he  so  richly  deserves.  He  sacrificed  much  in  his  ear 
lier  life  that  Warren  might  be  thoroughly  educated, 
and  his  son's  success  is  his  just  reward. 

A  typical  farm  homestead  near  Blooming  Grove, 
Morrow  County,  Ohio,  was  the  birthplace  of  Warren 
Gamaliel  Harding,  November  2,  1865.  He  will  cele 
brate  his  fifty-fifth  anniversary  on  election  day.  This 
American  community  had  already  come  to  fame  as 
the  birthplace  of  Senator  Calvin  S.  Brice  and  Albert 
P.  Morehouse,  governor  of  Missouri,  and  his  great 
state,  even  before  this  time,  had  won  its  way  into  the 
hearts  of  Americans  as  the  "Mother  of  Presidents." 

All  that  is  good  in  citizenship  and  honest  living  is 
the  priceless  possession  of  the  Hardings.  They  lived 
the  typical  life  of  the  early  Americans.  They  did  not 
suffer  from  an  over-abundance  of  wealth,  but  without 
exception  they  held  the  esteem  of  their  neighbors  and 
were  true  to  themselves.  Warren,  in  turn,  lived  the 
normal  life  of  an  American  boy  in  the  country  districts 
of  the  great  Central  West.  He  was  early  a  leader  of 
his  boyish  crowd.  As  was  the  custom  of  his  time,  the 
winter  months  of  his  early  years  were  spent  in  the 
country  or  village  school,  while  the  summers  found 
him  hard  at  work  on  his  father's  farm,  or  seeking  em 
ployment  in  the  village.  Warren  was  naturally  bright 
in  school.  It  would  hardly  be  proper  to  say  that  he 
was  precocious,  but  his  lessons  came  very  easily  and 
he  led  his  class  without  having  to  dig;  moreover,  he 


WARREN  GAMALIEL  HARDING          15 

was  too  hearty  and  healthy  a  boy  to  study  much  more 
than  was  necessary  to  keep  him  ahead  of  his  fellows. 
He  especially  enjoyed  grammar,  and  so  it  comes  about 
that  he  possesses  a  remarkable  aptitude  for  the  choice 
of  accurate  and  meaningful  words. 

As  he  came  to  his  teens  he  did  the  work  of  the  Ohio 
pioneer,  clearing  the  woodland  and  developing  the 
crops.  At  one  time  he  worked  in  a  sawmill.  The 
owner  of  this  mill  to  this  day  insists  that  Warren  was 
such  a  good  worker  that  it  almost  cost  him  his  life. 
He  had  been  given  the  task  of  cleaning  the  floor  near 
a  bandsaw  and  was  warned  not  to  clear  away  the 
rubbish  too  near  the  saw.  Warren  was  determined 
to  make  a  complete  job  of  it ;  he  leaned  over  to  brush 
under  the  saw  and  in  an  instant  the  crown  of  his  hat 
was  clipped  by  the  buzzer  and  whirled  to  the  ceiling. 
The  lad  came  within  three  inches  of  never  having  the 
opportunity  to  lead  his  party  to  victory.  Later  he 
worked  as  a  laborer  in  building  the  Toledo  and  Ohio 
Central  Railroad  which  was  laid  through  Morrow 
County,  and  he  followed  such  other  pursuits  as  the 
days  might  bring. 

While  a  boy,  young  Harding  is  well  remembered  as 
having  ridden  the  family  mule  from  Caledonia  to 
Marion,  after  the  removal  of  the  family  from  the  vil 
lage  to  the  county-seat.  The  story  is  told  that  on  the 
trip  he  stopped  a  farmer  to  inquire  how  much  of  his 
journey  to  Marion  remained.  The  farmer  looked  at 
him  reproachfully  and  dolefully  exclaimed,  "Wai,  it 
taint  so  fur  if  you  get  off  that  there  mule  and  walk, 
but  if  you're  goin'  to  ride  that  beast,  it's  a  purty  durn 
fur  ways  off !" 


16  REDEDICATING  AMERICA 

Like  most  young  men  who  were  the  leaders  of  their 
set,  young  Harding  took  his  turn  at  teaching  elemen 
tary  school,  mainly  for  the  purpose  of  obtaining  funds 
to  continue  his  education.  He  was  a  good  teacher,  due 
partly  to  his  genuine  desire  for  learning  plus  his  men 
tal  attainments,  but  more  because  of  his  executive  abil 
ity.  He  taught  the  fundamentals  very  successfully 
and  he  held  the  respect  and  esteem  of  his  pupils.  But 
what  is  even  more  important,  he  instilled  into  them  the 
spirit  of  thrift,  of  activity,  of  getting  things  done — 
and  of  patriotism. 

When  he  was  fourteen  years  of  age,  his  parents  were 
able  to  send  him  to  Ohio  Central  College  at  Iberia, 
from  which  institution  he  was  graduated  with  a  very 
good  record  in  scholarship,  and  the  degree  of  Bachelor 
of  Science.  It  was  there,  as  editor  of  the  college  pa 
per,  that  he  found  a  liking  and  displayed  a  talent  for 
journalism.  "If  I  have  any  faculty  for  the  work  I  am 
now  doing,"  he  said  in  later  years,  "I  owe  it  most  to 
my  training  as  editor  of  the  college  paper  while  a  stu 
dent."  His  college  course  was  marked  by  varied  va 
cation  employments,  not  because  of  poverty,  but  be 
cause  his  parents  had  taught  him  the  value  of  work. 
He,  therefore,  engaged  in  cutting  corn,  painting  houses 
and  grading  roadbeds.  He  was  an  average  farmer,  a 
very  good  house  painter  and  a  steady  workman  for 
the  railroad. 

His  favorite  pastime  during  this  period  of  life  was 
playing  in  the  Caledonia  and  Marion  bands.  Despite 
stories  to  the  contrary  regarding  the  instrument  he 
played,  let  it  be  said  here  in  finality  that  Warren 
Harding  played  a  tenor  horn  as  a  beginner,  sometimes 


WARREN  GAMALIEL  HARDING          17 

the  tuba  when  a  substitute  was  needed,  and  ultimately 
the  cornet.  Since  his  nomination  he  has  been  made  to 
perform  on  almost  every  instrument  known  to  a  band, 
but  his  fellow  musicians  told  me  that  there  need  be  no 
doubt  about  it,  for  they  all  remember  distinctly  that 
he  was  a  very  good  musician,  regular  at  practise,  and 
that  he  played  the  aforesaid  horns.  His  band  visited 
the  neighboring  cities  and  took  third  prize  in  the  state 
wide  band  tournament  at  Findlay,  Ohio,  in  1882.  Only 
seven  members  of  this  organization  now  survive,  and 
to  a  man  they  declare  that  Warren  Harding  was  a 
jolly  good  fellow  as  a  young  man,  modest,  unassum 
ing,  industrious,  full  of  fun,  loyal  to  his  friends  and  de 
voted  to  his  parents.  "And  what  is  more  important/' 
declared  Joe  Mathews,  who  played  in  the  celebrated 
band  with  him,  "is  that  Warren  has  never  changed  a 
bit  to  this  day." 

The  odor  of  printers*  ink  took  hold  of  him  when  he 
left  college.  He  had  become  a  hand  typesetter  as  a 
boy,  and  when  the  linotype  was  first  introduced  he 
learned  to  operate  the  machine.  He  is  a  practical 
pressman,  job  printer  and  make-up  editor.  To  this 
day  he  carries,  as  his  "luck  piece,"  the  printer's  rule 
of  his  composing-room  days.  During  the  Elaine  cam 
paign  he  was  employed  on  a  Democratic  newspaper  and 
when  his  Republicanism  could  no  longer  be  held  within 
bounds  and  he  joined  a  Blaine  club  and  donned  a 
Blaine  hat,  he  lost  his  job. 

He  turned  to  reportorial  and  editorial  work  on  the 
Marion  Daily  Star  of  Marion,  Ohio.  The  supreme 
desire  of  his  early  life  was  to  own  this  newspaper  and 
so  in  time  his  father  gave  him  the  small  financial  as- 


18  REDEDICATING  AMERICA 

sistance  that  permitted  him  to  purchase  it.  The  guiding 
spirit  of  the  Marion  Star  has  been,  and  is,  Senator 
Harding  himself.  Always  constructive,  always  fear 
less,  it  has  become  known  throughout  the  country  as 
a  newspaper  of  prestige  and  power.  Senator  Harding 
is  justly  proud  of  the  fact  that  his  paper  has  never  had 
a  labor  strike  or  even  a  threatened  controversy  with  its 
employees.  As  soon  as  he  was  able  to  put  the  Daily 
Star  on  a  firm  financial  foundation,  he  organized  a 
stock  company  with  his  employees,  distributing  shares 
to  his  workmen  so  that  now  they,  with  him,  own  the 
paper.  Years  ago  he  expressed  his  conception  of  the 
relation  between  the  newspaper  and  the  public  in  this 
creed,  written  in  his  office  for  his  office  staff: 

"Remember  there  are  two  sides  to  every  question. 
Get  both.  Be  truthful.  Get  the  facts.  Mistakes  are 
inevitable,  but  strive  for  accuracy.  I  would  rather 
have  one  story  exactly  right  than  a  hundred  half 
wrong.  Be  decent ;  be  fair,  be  generous.  Boost — don't 
knock.  There's  good  in  everybody.  Bring  out  the 
good  in  everybody,  and  never,  needlessly,  hurt  the  feel 
ings  of  anybody.  In  reporting  a  political  gathering, 
give  the  facts ;  tell  the  story  as  it  is,  not  as  you  would 
like  to  have  it.  Treat  all  parties  alike.  If  there's  any 
politics  to  be  played,  we  will  play  it  in  our  editorial 
columns.  Treat  all  religious  matters  reverently.  If 
it  can  possibly  be  avoided  never  bring  ignominy  to  an 
innocent  man  or  child  in  telling  of  the  misdeeds  or  mis 
fortune  of  a  relative.  Don't  wait  to  be  asked,  but  do  it 
without  the  asking,  and,  above  all,  be  clean  and  never 
let  a  dirty  word  or  suggestive  story  get  into  type.  I 
want  this  paper  so  conducted  that  it  can  go  into  any 
home  without  destroying  the  innocence  of  any  child." 


WARREN  GAMALIEL  HARDING          19 

Senator  Harding's  general  business  ability  soon  be 
came  recognized  and  he  was  called  to  interest  himself 
in  other  commercial  lines  before  he  entered  politics. 
He  became  a  director  of  the  Marion  County  Bank  of 
Marion,  Ohio ;  a  member  of  the  board  of  directors  of 
the  Marion  Lumber  Company,  the  Marion  County 
Telephone  Company,  the  Marion  Home  Building  and 
Loan  Association  and  numerous  other  concerns.  He 
gave  financial  support  to  several  new  industries  which 
came  to  Marion  when  these  commercial  organizations 
sought  his  business  counsel.  He  devoted  much  time  to 
civic  affairs,  and  became  a  trustee  of  the  Trinity  Bap 
tist  Church,  which  he  attends  regularly  when  at  home. 

Warren  Harding  is  essentially  human.  He  has  al 
ways  been  interested  in  the  charities  of  his  town  and 
has  done  innumerable  acts  of  helpfulness  known  only 
to  himself  and  the  beneficiary  of  his  kindness.  He  has 
given  financial  assistance  to  more  than  one  fellow 
townsman  who  had  met  adversity  and  in  whom  many 
people  had  lost  faith.  On  one  of  his  recent  trips  he 
met  an  acquaintance  whom  he  had  not  seen  in  many 
months  and  who  was  threatened  with  total  blindness. 
Harding  took  his  friend  of  earlier  years  with  him  to 
Washington,  placed  him  in  the  hands  of  an  eminent 
eye  specialist,  and  was  so  sincerely  happy  when  the 
physician  was  able  to  restore  the  sight  of  one  eye  that 
he  confidentially  told  one  or  two  of  his  neighbors 
about  it. 

Harding's  humanitarianism,  simple,  unheralded,  al 
ways  behind  closed  doors,  is  one  of  his  truly  great 
characteristics,  and  ranks  in  importance  with  his  utter 


2Q          PEDEDICATING  AMERICA 

sincerity.  When  I  asked  a  fellow  member  of  the 
United  States  Senate  what  he  regarded  as  the  senator's 
greatest  attribute,  he  replied  instantly: 

"Modesty  and  sincerity.  Harding's  modesty  mani 
fests  itself  at  all  times  and  sometimes  to  his  disad 
vantage  through  being  mistaken  for  a  lack  of  confi 
dence  in  himself.  I  have  always  been  impressed  with 
this  quality  in  him.  Both  in  committee  meetings  and 
on  the  floor  of  the  Senate  he  advances  his  views,  not 
with  an  air  of  finality,  nor  yet  timidity,  but  with  be 
coming  modesty,  and  seldom  until  he  has  listened  pa 
tiently  to  what  others  have  to  say,  but  he  is  tenacious 
of  his  opinions  and  is  not  easily  swayed  from  his  con 
clusions  once  they  have  been  reached.  He  is  as  sincere 
as  a  man  can  be.  I  have  never  yet  known  him  to  tem 
porize.  What  he  believes  he  says  and  he  does  not  say 
what  he  does  not  believe.  I  know  of  no  other  man 
in  public  life  so  little  given  to  dissembling;  for  better 
or  for  worse,  he  is  just  what  he  appears  to  be." 

No  sketch  of  the  Republican  standard  bearer  is  com 
plete  without  tender  and  just  tribute  to  Florence  Kling 
Harding,  his  devoted,  enthusiastic  and  very  able  wife, 
whom  he  married  in  1891.  She  is  his  eternal  inspira 
tion  and  their  relations  are  as  near  ideal  as  could  b§ 
on  this  mundane  sphere.  They  are  the  best  comrades, 
sharing  their  problems  in  full  together  and  finding 
their  happiness  in  their  affection  for  each  other.  Mrs, 
Harding  is  a  woman  of  culture,  sincere,  genuine,  and 
always  happy.  She  has  lived  her  entire  life  in  or  near 
her  present  home.  Her  father,  Amos  Kling,  was  2 
substantial  business  man  of  Marion,  and  she  attended 
the  Marion  schools.  She  is  widely  read  and  spends 
much  time  with  her  books.  As  a  young  woman,  her 


WARREN  GAMALIEL  HARDING         21 

Hobby  was  horseback  riding;  she  was  a  clever  rider 
and  now  is  an  excellent  judge  of  saddle  horses.  She 
loves  the  great  outdoors. 

"I  can  not  realize  that  Warren  has  been  nominated 
for  the  presidency,"  she  said  to  me  a  month  after  the 
nomination.  "It  hardly  seems  real  to  me."  And  her 
attitude  bespeaks  the  fact,  for  she  is  the  same  cordial, 
lovable  woman  to-day  that  she  was  five  years  ago. 
Fully  able  to  bear  the  heavy  tasks  which  now  come  to 
her,  she  refuses  absolutely  to  permit  the  tremendous 
honor  to  change  her  one  iota. 

Senator  Harding  also  is  privileged  to  enjoy  the  com 
radeship  of  three  loyal  sisters.  Miss  Abigail  Harding 
resides  with  her  father  in  Marion  and  is  a  teacher  of 
English  in  the  Marion  High  School.  Another  sister, 
Mrs.  Carolyn  Votaw,  is  the  wife  of  Doctor  Herbert 
Votaw,  of  Washington,  D.  C.  She  is  deeply  interested 
in  social  problems  and  is  a  member  of  the  Women's 
Bureau  of  the  Police  Department  of  the  capital  city. 
A  third  sister,  Mrs.  Charity  M.  Remsberg,  resides  in 
California.  His  only  brother,  Doctor  G.  T.  Harding,  Jr., 
is  an  eminent  physician  of  Columbus,  Ohio. 

While  Senator  Harding  has  always  maintained  his 
numerous  business  connections,  increasing  them  from 
year  to  year,  his  interest  in  and  ability  for  things  gov 
ernmental  early  turned  him  to  an  active  participation 
in  public  affairs.  He  was  elected  a  member  of  the  upper 
chamber  of  the  Seventy-fifth  and  Seventy-sixth  Ohio 
General  Assemblies  as  senator  from  the  Thirteenth 
Ohio  District,  serving  from  1899  to  1903.  He  had  al 
ready  gained  a  state-wide  reputation  as  a  public  speaker 
and  as  editor  of  his  forceful  paper,  whose  editorials, 


22  REDEDICATING  AMERICA 

written  largely  by  the  senator  himself,  were  read  and 
valued  throughout  his  state.  He  was  now  an  Ohio  fig 
ure  and  the  following  year  his  leadership  was  recog 
nized  in  his  nomination  and  election  as  lieutenant-gov 
ernor.  Seven  years  later  found  him  the  Republican 
candidate  for  governor,  but,  because  of  a  party  disaf 
fection,  he  met  his  first  political  defeat.  At  that  time 
he  said  publicly  that  he  would  leave  the  political  arena, 
but  in  the  short  space  of  two  years'  time  he  returned 
actively  to  politics,  supporting  William  Howard  Taft 
for  renomination  and  reelection  as  president  of  the 
United  States.  In  another  two  years'  time  he  became 
a  candidate  for  the  Republican  nomination  for  senator 
and  in  the  first  primary  election  held  in  his  state  he 
defeated  Senator  Joseph  B.  Foraker.  This  was  in  the 
spring  of  1914.  When  the  votes  were  counted  at  the 
November  election  his  fellow  Ohioans  sent  him  to  the 
United  States  Senate  with  a  majority  of  102,373  over 
Timothy  S.  Hogan,  his  Democratic  opponent,  and  with 
73,000  more  votes  than  the  next  highest  candidate  on 
the  Republican  ticket. 

When  he  reached  Washington,  Senator  Harding 
quickly  won  the  respect  and  esteem  of  his  fellow  sen 
ators.  He  had  the  happy  fortune  of  making  and  hold 
ing  the  genuine  friendship  of  every  member  of  that 
body.  From  that  time  to  the  present  it  has  been  an 
almost  daily  occurrence  in  the  Republican  senatorial 
cloak-room  for  some  senator,  in  the  course  of  a  confer 
ence,  to  say,  "Let's  see  what  Warren  thinks  about  this." 
His  judgment,  abundance  of  common  sense  and 
breadth  of  understanding  are  recognized  as  his  most 
valued  assets.  Senator  Harding  has  a  fine  poise  and 


WARREN  GAMALIEL  HARDING         23 

a  deliberate  and  judicial  manner.  His  friends  say 
they  have  never  known  him  to  lose  his  temper  in  vio 
lent  fashion  and  that  he  always  has  himself  under  per 
fect  command.  His  opinions  and  views  on  public 
questions  have  met  the  almost  universal  approval  of 
the  members  on  his  side  of  the  chamber.  They  wel 
come  his  counsel  and  he  invites  theirs.  If  he  removes 
from  Capitol  Hill  to  the  White  House,  Senator  Har 
ding  can  not  do  otherwise  than  understand  Congress 
and  work  with  it  to  the  expedition  of  legislation.  And 
his  lifelong  desire  for  counsel  will  unquestionably  cause 
him  to  call  to  his  Cabinet  strong,  able,  loyal  Americans ; 
to  the  eternal  glory  of  the  republic. 

Warren  Harding  attends  to  his  senatorial  business. 
Relying  upon  the  ability  and  faithfulness  of  his  sec 
retary,  George  B.  Christian,  Jr.,  who  is  greatly  de 
voted  to  his  chief,  he  has  established  a  reputation 
among  his  fellow  senators  for  the  efficient  administra 
tion  of  the  varied  lines  of  activity  which  United  States 
senators  these  days  are  called  upon  to  perform.  His 
office  has  an  atmosphere  of  hospitality ;  his  visitors  feel 
unconsciously  that  they  are  welcome ;  he  is  always  ac 
cessible,  generous  with  his  time,  ready  to  hear  and  to 
help. 

Senator  Harding  is  in  regular  attendance  at  his  com 
mittee  meetings.  Several  years  before  he  was  pub 
licly  considered  for  the  presidency,  I  observed  him  in 
committee  sessions.  In  the  course  of  an  hour's  meet 
ing  he  invariably  asks  half  a  dozen  pointed  questions. 
He  calls  bluntly  for  the  opinions  of  other  senators  on 
the  committee  and  relies,  to  a  considerable  extent,  upon 
their  combined  judgments  in  reaching  his  own  conclu- 


24  REDEDICATING  AMERICA 

sions  on  the  question  tinder  consideration.  He  does  a 
full  day's  work  and  is  busy  at  his  office  from  nine 
o'clock  in  the  morning  until  Mrs.  Harding  comes  for 
him  at  six  in  the  evening,  and  often  then  his  day's  work 
is  not  yet  completed.  With  Mrs.  Harding  and  his 
devoted  secretary,  he  gathers  up  in  his  automobile  one 
or  more  other  senators  who  are  "going  his  way,"  shar 
ing  their  comradeship  and  taking  them  to  their  homes. 

Those  acquainted  with  the  official  life  of  Washing 
ton  know  that  the  work  of  the  government  is  done 
largely  by  congressional  committees.  It  is  in  the  com 
mittee  rooms  that  the  innumerable  vital  questions  are 
considered  in  detail  and  committee  conclusions  reached 
after  many  hours  of  discussion  and  deliberation.  Since 
his  election  to  the  Senate,  Senator  Harding  has  had 
important  committee  assignments.  During  the  last  two 
years  he  has  served  as  chairman  of  the  Committee  on 
the  Philippines.  His  most  important  assignment  has 
been  the  Foreign  Relations  Committee,  and  next  to  that 
the  Committee  on  Commerce.  His  other  committees 
are :  Territories ;  Pacific  Islands  and  Porto  Rico ;  Pub 
lic  Health  and  National  Quarantine;  Standards, 
Weights  and  Measures,  and  Expenditures  in  the 
Treasury  Department. 

In  his  busy  career  he  has  found  time  for  three  trips 
abroad,  devoted  largely  to  a  study  of  European  gov 
ernments  and  their  economic  problems,  and  because 
of  his  travels  his  counsel  has  been  much  sought  on 
questions  before  the  Philippines  Committee,  Pacific 
Islands  and  Porto  Rico  and  Territories.  His  extensive 
business  connections  throughout  Ohio,  covering  many 


WARREN  GAMALIEL  HARDING         25 

years,  have  made  him  an  invaluable  member  of  the 
Committee  on  Commerce.  His  especial  interest  in  this 
committee  relates  to  the  merchant  marine,  and  his  ac 
tivities  were  signally  helpful  in  speeding  up  ship  con 
struction  to  meet  war  needs.  He  views  the  nation's 
commercial  problems  from  a  business  man's  standpoint, 
bringing  to  them  practical  considerations  rather  than 
the  theories  of  the  professional  economist. 

His  greatest  usefulness,  as  well  as  his  deepest  satis 
faction  and  genuine  interest,  is  in  his  membership  on 
the  Committee  on  Foreign  Relations.  This  committee, 
since  the  signing  of  the  armistice,  has  been  by  far  the 
most  important  committee  of  Congress,  and  during  the 
war  it  ranked  second  only  to  the  Committee  on  Mili 
tary  Affairs.  The  Senate  Committee  on  Foreign  Rela 
tions  has  been  charged  with  the  gigantic  task  of  consid 
ering  the  peace  treaty.  The  time  will  surely  come  when 
the  American  historian  will  give  just  credit  to  those 
members  of  the  Senate  Committee  on  Foreign  Relations 
who  held  firm  to  the  advocacy  of  an  America  free, 
strong,  untrammeled  and  supreme  in  her  individualism. 
In  this  little  group  of  stout-hearted  Americans,  Warren 
Harding  deserves  high  rank.  He  was  one  of  those 
senators  who  maintained  their  calm  and  deliberation, 
who  kept  their  minds  clear  and  their  hearts  strong  in 
the  devotion  to  their  country  during  the  unsettled, 
anxious  and  abnormal  times  of  the  war  and  in  all  the 
subsequent  and  often  acrid  peace  discussions.  This 
service  has  been  his  highest  contribution  to  America 
up  to  the  present  time.  It  is  proper  that  Americans 
judge  him  by  his  attitude  toward  our  international  re- 


26  REDEDICATING  AMERICA 

lations  in  connection  with  the  war  and  I  am  sure  that 
he  would  welcome  all  Americans  in  estimating  his 
worth  on  this  basis. 

Senator  Harding  has  always  been  in  favor  of  a 
proper  understanding  among  the  nations  of  the  world. 
He  does  not  underestimate  the  awful  horrors  of  war 
and  he  is  willing  to  go  far  to  prevent  future  conflicts. 
But  he  has  a  consuming  passion  for  his  beloved  coun 
try,  her  safety  and  her  preserved  identity.  "We  do 
not  need,  and  we  do  not  mean  to  live  within  and  for 
ourselves  alone,"  he  said  on  the  floor  of  the  Senate 
during  the  league  of  nations  debate,  "but  we  mean  to 
hold  our  ideals  safe  from  foreign  incursion.  It  is  eas 
ily  possible  to  hold  the  world's  highest  esteem  through 
>  righteous  relationships.  We  are  willing  to  give,  but  we 
resent  demands.  Let  us  have  an  America  walking 
erect,  unafraid,  concerned  about  its  rights  and  ready 
to  defend  them,  sure  of  its  ideals  and  strong  to  support 
them.  Out  of  the  discovered  soul  of  this  republic  and 
through  our  preservative  actions,  we  shall  hold  the 
word  *  American*  the  proudest  boast  of  citizenship  in  all 
the  world." 

He  could  never  bring  himself  to  accept  the  involve 
ments  which  he  felt  sure  would  come  to  America  by 
her  membership  in  the  league  of  nations  as  submitted 
to  the  Senate  by  the  peace  conference.  The  privacy 
and  secrecy  which  he  felt  were  so  conspicuous  in  the 
peace  conference  were  abhorrent  to  him.  In  his 
frank,  sure  manner  of  thought  and  action  which  has 
characterized  his  senatorial  service,  sometimes  to  his 
political  disadvantage,  he  deeply  resented  the  attitude 
of  the  peace  confreres  in  failing  to  take  the  peoples  of 


WARREN  GAMALIEL  HARDING         27 

their  respective  countries  into  full  confidence.  He  be 
lieved  sincerely  that  the  result  of  the  peace  negotia 
tions  would  be  to  create  a  supergovernment  over  this 
country  and,  so  believing,  he  declared  his  conviction 
to  the  people  of  the  United  States  that  he  regarded 
this,  though  unconscious  and  unintended,  a  betrayal  of 
the  country. 

His  devotion  to  America  was  not  a  new  attitude  with 
him  when  the  peace  treaty  was  presented  to  the  Senate. 
In  explaining  his  vote  on  the  declaration  of  war  in 
the  United  States  Senate,  Wednesday,  April  4, 1917,  he 
said,  in  his  vigorous  and  deliberate  way:  "I  want  it 
known  to  the  people  of  my  state  and  to  the  nation  that 
I  am  voting  for  war  to-night  for  the  maintenance  of 
just  American  rights,  which  is  the  first  essential  to  the 
preservation  of  the  soul  of  this  republic."  That  was 
his  view  of  America  before  the  European  war  was 
dreamed  of ;  it  was  his  view  of  America  when  we  en 
tered  the  war  and  it  was  still  his  conception  when  the 
conflict  had  ended.  He  could  not  do  otherwise  in 
voting  on  the  peace  treaty  than  remain  true  to  the  faith 
that  was  in  him.  He  was  ready  to  go  to  war  because 
America  had  been  attacked,  and  he  was  willing  to  con 
clude  peace  only  on  a  basis  which  preserved  his  country 
inviolate.  He  believed  that  our  entrance  into  the  war 
was  determined  by  the  conscience  of  America  and  he 
thought  that  the  dictates  of  that  conscience  should  de 
termine  the  terms  of  peace,  so  far  as  the  United  States 
was  concerned. 

His  absolute  candor,  as  exhibited  in  connection  with1 
the  peace  treaty,  has  shown  itself  in  his  attitude  on  all 
public  questions.  To  some  of  his  friends,  and  to  some 


28  REDEDICATING  AMERICA 

senators,  it  is  almost  uncanny.  "Warren  is  making  a 
mistake  which  will  hurt  him  politically"  has  been  the 
comment  heard  in  Washington  on  numerous  occasions 
when  he  stated  publicly  his  attitude  on  questions  which 
held  the  attention  of  the  American  people.  This  same 
frankness  was  shown  during  the  consideration  of  the 
Cummins  railroad  bill.  He  voted  for  the  anti-strike 
clause  in  the  railroad  bill  despite  the  protests  and 
threats  that  it  would  annihilate  him  politically.  "If 
the  government  representing  all  the  people  can  not 
guarantee  transportation  service  under  any  and  all 
conditions,  it  fails  utterly,"  he  declared,  and  he  squared 
his  public  attitude  with  this  conscientious  belief.  He 
has  always  favored  rational  unionism  and  collective 
bargaining,  and  has  so  stated  publicly  on  many  occa 
sions  ;  for  eleven  years  he  has  operated  his  newspaper 
on  the  share-holding  plan  with  the  employees.  But  when 
the  question  was  squarely  put  up  to  him  as  to  whether 
he  should  vote  to  permit  any  one  class  to  become 
stronger  than  his  government,  he  took  his  stand,  and 
this  at  a  time  when  he  contemplated  becoming  a  candi 
date  for  the  presidency.  Again  his  love  for  America 
and  his  belief  that  she  should  be  supreme  overpowered 
all  other  considerations,  and  he  said  so. 

This  passionate  devotion  to  America  caused  him  to 
lay  aside  all  partisan  feeling  during  the  war.  He  dis 
agreed  with  many  of  the  acts  of  the  administration, 
but  he  would  not  permit  his  disagreement  to  swerve 
him  in  his  course  in  support  of  a  vigorous  prosecution 
of  the  war.  He  voted  for  the  measure  to  arm  mer 
chant  ships.  He  supported  the  espionage  bill  and  the 
selective  draft  measure.  He  voted  for  food  control 


WARREN  GAMALIEL  HARDING         29 

legislation.  He  supported  the  administration  war  rev 
enue  bills,  opposing  several  amendments  for  sixty  to 
seventy-five  per  cent,  taxes  on  war  profits  in  the  be 
lief  that  such  taxes  directly  injured  business,  slowed 
down  production  and  thereby  reacted  to  the  detriment 
of  the  American  people.  He  supported  the  merchant 
marine  measure  and  has  always  been  an  ardent  advo 
cate  of  a  powerful  merchant  marine.  He  voted  for 
the  Sheppard  resolution  proposing  national  prohibition. 
Having  voted  for  the  prohibition  amendment,  he  sup 
ported  the  Volstead  enforcement  law  and  again  voted 
to  enact  this  measure  over  the  president's  veto.  He 
believed  that  the  time  had  come  when  women  should  be 
taken  into  participation  in  the  political  activities  of  the 
country  and  he  voted  for  the  proposed  suffrage  amend 
ment.  He  supported  the  resolution  to  withdraw 
American  troops  from  Russia  because  he  felt  that  our 
participation  in  Russian  affairs  was  neither  wise,  nec 
essary,  nor  American.  When  the  measure  requiring 
publicity  for  campaign  contributions  was  considered, 
he  voted  in  favor  of  it,  against  the  protests  of  a  cer 
tain  class  of  politicians.  He  is  a  strong  protectionist, 
although  there  has  been  little  occasion  for  him  to  ex 
hibit  his  attitude  publicly  in  the  Senate  upon  this  ques 
tion  during  the  last  five  years.  He  believes  strongly  in 
efficiency  in  government,  just  as  he  insists  upon  it  in 
his  private  business,  and  has  long  been  an  advocate  of 
the  budget  system  as  the  proper  basis  for  the  business 
affairs  of  our  federal  government. 

That  governmental  legislation  will  not  prove  a  cure- 
all  for  the  economic  and  social  ills  of  the  day  is  only 
too  well  understood  and  appreciated  by  Harding, 


30  REDEDICATING  AMERICA 

Proper  legislation  can  do  much  to  improve  conditions, 
but  thrift,  economy  and  simple  living  on  the  part  of 
the  American  people  is  of  far  more  importance, 
Harding  knows.  "Let  us  call  to  all  the  people  for 
thrift  and  economy,  for  denial  and  sacrifice;  if  need 
be  for  a  nation-wide  drive  against  extravagance  and 
luxury,  to  a  recommittal  to  simplicity  of  living,  to  that 
prudent  and  normal  plan  of  life  which  is  the  health 
of  the  republic,"  he  admonished  in  his  address  accept 
ing  the  presidential  nomination.  More  than  any  other 
public  man,  Senator  Harding  has,  during  the  last  year, 
urged  his  countrymen  to  counteract  the  fervid  anxiety 
of  the  war  and  its  aftermath,  to  end  the  hysteria  of 
the  day  of  the  world  conflict,  and  to  "get  back  to 
normal."  War  powers  should  have  been  rescinded 
months  ago  in  his  belief,  and  Americans  should  re 
turn  to  their  normal  activities  of  peace. 

Harding's  face  is  forward.  He  is  in  entire  sym 
pathy  with  well  developed  movements  which  make 
better  the  lot  of  the  American  people.  He  has  eagerly 
supported  such  measures  as  that  to  impose  a  high  rate 
of  duty  on  imports  of  child-labor-made  goods.  He 
voted  for  the  establishment  of  a  minimum  wage  board 
to  fix  wages  for  women  and  children  in  the  District  of 
Columbia.  He  favored  overtime  pay  for  federal  em 
ployees  when  employed  extra  hours.  He  supported 
those  proposals  which  in  his  opinion  were  beneficial  to 
the  American  soldier  and  sailor.  His  kindly  heart  and 
his  clear,  calm  mind  have  given  him  an  admirable  grasp 
on  the  social  problems  of  the  day. 

Harding  is  distinctly  a  constructive  statesman; 
negatives  are  unknown  to  him.  Constructive  meas- 


WARREN  GAMALIEL  HARDING          31 

ures  to  receive  his  favor  must  be  able  to  stand  the  test 
of  experience,  must  meet  the  requirements  of  an  his 
torical  analysis  and  above  all  must  be  based  upon  good 
common  sense.  When  they  can  withstand  these  tests, 
Harding  is  the  first  to  advocate  them.  The  assertion 
is  made,  without  contradiction,  that  every  constructive, 
progressive  measure  which  has  been  voted  upon  in  the 
United  States  Senate  since  he  was  elected  to  that  body 
six  years  ago  and  which  withstood  the  aforementioned 
requirements,  has  had  his  vote  and  his  voice. 

His  advocacy  of  American  nationalism  is  analogous 
to  his  belief  in  the  Republican  party  as  a  party  strong 
in  and  of  itself.  He  warmly  admired  William  Mc- 
Kinley,  who  was  his  good  personal  friend  for  many 
.years,  first  as  an  American  nationalist  and  secondly,  as 
a  partisan  Republican.  Senator  Harding  is  being  pop 
ularly  likened  to  William  McKinley  these  days  and 
there  is  much  basis  for  the  comparison.  Harding  be 
lieves  profoundly  in  the  principles  of  the  Republican 
party  as  did  William  McKinley.  Speaking  of  Mc 
Kinley,  he  said :  "He  believed  in  party  government 
through  the  agency  of  political  parties  and  believed  in 
his  party  as  the  agency  of  greatest  good  to  the  Amer 
ican  people.  He  was  considerate,  tolerant,  courteous, 
but  ever  a  Republican.  He  did  not  believe  his  party  had 
a  monopoly  on  all  that  was  good  or  patriotic,  but  he 
did  believe  it  best  capable  of  serving  our  common 
country  and  its  policies  best  suited  to  promoting  our 
common  fortune."  When  Senator  Harding  spoke  thus 
of  William  McKinley,  those  who  know  him  best  are 
sure  that  he  was  speaking  his  own  firm  belief  in  the 
party  of  his  choice.  Harding  believes  that  political 


32  REDEDICATING  AMERICA 

parties  are  essential  to  the  American  form  of  represen 
tative  government  and  he  is  the  true  exponent  of  party 
rather  than  personal  government.  The  simple  truth  is 
that  the  views  of  McKinley  and  Harding  upon  party 
affairs  and  upon  the  basic  principles  of  our  govern 
ment  are,  to  a  great  extent,  identical. 

During  the  disaffection  in  the  party  which  began  in 
the  campaign  of  1912,  he  could  not  entertain  the  be 
lief  that  it  was  wise  to  disrupt  the  party  organization 
and  he  said  so  in  vigorous  fashion  at  every  public  op 
portunity.  Four  years  later,  Colonel  Roosevelt  sent 
for  him  and  Senator  Harding  gladly  accepted  the  in 
vitation.  They  did  not  dwell  long  on  the  conditions  of 
1912.  Both  agreed  that  mistakes  had  been  made  and 
that  the  greatest  need  of  the  country  was  the  complete 
unification  of  the  Republican  party.  Colonel  Roose 
velt  asked  Senator  Harding  to  champion  a  measure  to 
permit  the  former  president  to  lead  a  volunteer  detach 
ment  to  France  and  the  senator  enthusiastically  intro 
duced  such  a  bill  in  the  United  States  Senate.  He  ob 
tained  its  passage,  but  it  fell  under  the  presidential 
veto.  "If  he  had  lived,  Colonel  Roosevelt  would  have 
been  our  Republican  nominee  by  acclamation  in  1920," 
Senator  Harding  said  but  a  few  months  before  his  own 
nomination. 

As  Roosevelt  was  grim  and  resolute,  so  is  Har 
ding.  The  Republican  nominee,  often  silent  in  his 
determination,  takes  counsel  in  abundance,  and,  with 
it  all,  reaches  his  own  conclusions.  With  the  com 
bined  thought  of  the  best  American  minds,  he  will 
show  the  way  to  the  Constitution,  to  constructive 


WARREN  GAMALIEL  HARDING          33 

American  development,  to  a  virile  nationalism.    He  will 
rededicate  America. 

His  admirers  see  in  Senator  Harding  a  composite  of 
Roosevelt  and  McKinley.  "Colonel  Roosevelt's  name 
will  be  inseparably  linked  with  the  finding  of  the 
American  soul,  with  the  great  awakening  and  consecra 
tion/'  he  said,  and  of  McKinley  he  declared,  "If  he 
were  alive  to-day,  William  McKinley  would  be  an 
American  nationalist."  Harding' s  every  public  utter 
ance  has  been  based  upon  nationalism  and  American 
ism.  He  estimates  American  leaders  who  have  gone 
before  by  these  two  standards.  He  has  lived  his  life 
thus  far  by  them  and  he  now  goes  before  the  American 
people  as  a  candidate  for  their  highest  honor  submit 
ting  as  his  greatest  asset  his  devotion  to  them.  When 
his  work  is  done,  of  him  the  historian  will  say,  "War 
ren  Harding,  Nationalist  and  American." 


CHAPTER  II 
SPEECH  OF  ACCEPTANCE 

Address  at  Formal  Notification  of  His  Nomination  for 
the  Presidency,  at  Marion,  Ohio,  July  22,  1920 

CHAIRMAN  LODGE,  MEMBERS  OF  THE  NOTIFICATION 
COMMITTEE,  MEMBERS  OF  THE  NATIONAL  COMMITTEE, 
LADIES  AND  GENTLEMEN — The  message  which  you 
have  formally  conveyed  brings  to  me  a  realization  of 
responsibility  which  is  not  underestimated.  It  is  a 
supreme  task  to  interpret  the  covenant  of  a  great  po 
litical  party,  the  activities  of  which  are  so  woven  into 
the  history  of  this  republic,  and  a  very  sacred  and 
solemn  undertaking  to  utter  the  faith  and  aspirations 
of  the  many  millions  who  adhere  to  that  party.  The 
party  platform  has  charted  the  way,  yet  somehow  we 
have  come  to  expect  that  interpretation  which  voices 
the  faith  of  nominees  who  must  assume  specific  tasks. 

Let  me  be  understood  clearly  from  the  very  begin 
ning.  I  believe  in  party  sponsorship  in  government.  I 
believe  in  party  government  as  distinguished  from  per 
sonal  government,  individual,  dictatorial,  autocratic  or 
what  not.  In  a  citizenship  of  more  than  a  hundred 
millions  it  is  impossible  to  reach  agreement  upon  all 
questions.  Parties  are  formed  by  those  who  reach  a 
consensus  of  opinion.  It  was  the  intent  of  the  found 
ing  fathers  to  give  to  this  republic  a  dependable  and  en- 

34 


SPEECH  OF  ACCEPTANCE  35 

during  popular  government,  representative  in  form, 
and  it  was  designed  to  make  political  parties  not  only 
the  preserving  sponsors  but  also  the  effective  agencies 
through  which  hopes  and  aspirations  and  convictions 
and  conscience  may  be  translated  into  public  perform 
ance. 

CONSTITUTION  CHARTS  THE  WAY 

Popular  government  has  been  an  inspiration  of  lib 
erty  since  the  dawn  of  civilization.  Republics  have 
risen  and  fallen,  and  a  transition  from  party  to  per 
sonal  government  has  preceded  every  failure  since  the 
world  began.  Under  the  Constitution  we  have  the 
charted  way  to  security  and  perpetuity.  We  know  it 
gave  to  us  the  safe  path  to  a  developing  eminence 
which  no  people  in  the  world  ever  rivaled.  It  has 
guaranteed  the  rule  of  intelligent,  deliberate  public 
opinion  expressed  through  parties.  Under  this  plan  a 
masterful  leadership  becomingly  may  manifest  its  in 
fluence,  but  a  people's  will  still  remains  the  supreme 
authority. 

The  American  achievement  under  the  plan  of  the 
fathers  is  nowhere  disputed.  On  the  contrary  the 
American  example  has  been  the  model  of  every  repub 
lic  which  glorifies  the  progress  of  liberty,  and  is  every 
where  the  leaven  of  representative  democracy  which 
has  expanded  human  freedom.  It  has  been  wrought 
through  party  government. 

No  man  is  big  enough  to  run  this  great  republic. 
There  never  has  been  one.  Such  domination  was 
never  intended.  Tranquillity,  stability,  dependability 
— all  are  assured  in  party  sponsorship,  and  we  mean 


36  REDEDICATING  AMERICA 

to  renew  the  assurances  which  were  rended  in  the 
cataclysmal  war. 

POPULAR  GOVERNMENT   TO   BE   RESTORED 

It  was  not  surprising  that  we  went  far  afield  from 
safe  and  prescribed  paths  amid  the  war  anxieties. 
There  was  the  unfortunate  tendency  before ;  there  was 
the  surrender  of  Congress  to  the  growing  assumption 
of  the  executive  before  the  world  war  imperiled  all 
the  practises  we  had  learned  to  believe  in ;  and  in  the 
war  emergency  every  safeguard  was  swept  away.  In 
the  name  of  democracy  we  established  autocracy.  We 
are  not  complaining  at  this  extraordinary  bestowal  or 
assumption  in  war,  it  seemed  temporarily  necessary ; 
our  alarm  is  over  the  failure  to  restore  the  constitu 
tional  methods  when  the  war  emergency  ended. 

Our  first  committal  is  the  restoration  of  representa 
tive  popular  government,  under  the  Constitution, 
through  the  agency  of  the  Republican  party.  Our 
vision  includes  more  than  a  chief  executive,  we  believe 
in  a  Cabinet  of  highest  capacity,  equal  to  the  responsi 
bilities  which  our  system  contemplates,  in  whose  coun 
cils  the  vice-president,  second  official  of  the  republic, 
shall  be  asked  to  participate.  The  same  vision  includes 
a  cordial  understanding  and  coordinated  activities  with 
a  house  of  Congress,  fresh  from  the  people,  voicing  the 
convictions  which  members  bring  from  direct  contact 
with  the  electorate,  and  cordial  cooperation  along  with 
the  restored  functions  of  the  Senate,  fit  to  be  the  great 
est  deliberative  body  of  the  world.  Its  members  are 
the  designated  sentinels  on  the  towers  of  constitutional 
government.  The  resumption  of  the  Senate's  authority 


SPEECH  OF  ACCEPTANCE  37 

Saved  to  this  republic  its  independent  nationality,  when 
autocracy  misinterpreted  the  dream  of  a  world  experi 
ment  to  be  the  vision  of  a  world  ideal. 

REPUBLICAN  SENATORS  SAVED  AMERICA 

It  Js  not  difficult,  Chairman  Lodge,  to  make  our 
selves  clear  on  the  question  of  international  relation 
ship.  We  Republicans  of  the  Senate,  conscious  of  our 
solemn  oaths  and  mindful  of  our  constitutional  obliga 
tions,  when  we  saw  the  structure  of  a  world  super- 
government  taking  visionary  form,  joined  in  a  becom 
ing  warning  of  our  devotion  to  this  republic.  If  the 
torch  of  constitutionalism  had  not  been  dimmed,  the 
delayed  peace  of  the  world  and  the  tragedy  of  disap 
pointment  and  Europe's  misunderstanding  of  America 
easily  might  have  been  avoided.  The  Republicans  of 
the  Senate  halted  the  barter  of  independent  American 
eminence  and  influence  which  it  was  proposed  to 
exchange  for  an  obscure  and  unequal  place  in  the 
merged  government  of  the  world.  Our  party  means 
to  hold  the  heritage  of  American  nationality  unim 
paired  and  unsurrendered. 

The  world  will  not  misconstrue.  We  do  not  mean 
to  hold  aloof.  We  do  not  mean  to  shun  a  single  re 
sponsibility  of  this  republic  to  world  civilization. 
There  is  no  hate  in  the  American  heart.  We  have  no 
envy,  no  suspicion,  no  aversion  for  any  people  in  the 
world.  We  hold  to  our  rights,  and  means  to  defend, 
aye,  we  mean  to  sustain  the  rights  of  this  nation  and 
our  citizens  alike,  everywhere  under  the  shining  sun. 
Yet  there  is  the  concord  of  amity  and  sympathy  and 
fraternity  in  every  resolution.  There  is  a  genuine  as- 


38  REDEDICATING  AMERICA 

piration  in  every  American  breast  for  a  tranquil  friend 
ship  with  all  the  world. 

WILL  PRESERVE  AMERICAN  INDEPENDENCE 

More,  we  believe  the  unspeakable  sorrows,  the  im 
measurable  sacrifices,  the  awakened  convictions  and 
the  aspiring  conscience  of  human  kind  must  commit 
the  nations  of  the  earth  to  a  new  and  better  relation 
ship.  It  need  not  be  discussed  now  what  motives 
plunged  the  world  into  war,  it  need  not  be  inquired 
whether  we  asked  the  sons  of  this  republic  to  defend 
our  national  rights,  as  I  believe  we  did,  or  to  purge  the 
Old  World  of  the  accumulated  ills  of  rivalry  and  greed, 
the  sacrifices  will  be  in  vain  if  we  can  not  acclaim  a 
new  order,  with  added  security  to  civilization  and  peace 
maintained. 

One  may  readily  sense  the  conscience  of  our  Amer 
ica.  I  am  sure  I  understand  the  purpose  of  the  dom 
inant  group  of  the  Senate.  We  were  not  seeking  to 
defeat  a  world  aspiration,  we  were  resolved  to  safe 
guard  America.  We  were  resolved  then,  even  as  we 
are  to-day,  and  will  be  to-morrow,  to  preserve  this 
free  and  independent  republic.  Let  those  now  respon 
sible,  or  seeking  responsibility,  propose  the  surrender, 
whether  with  interpretations,  apologies  or  reluctant 
reservations — from  which  our  rights  are  to  be  omitted 
— we  welcome  the  referendum  to  the  American  peo 
ple  on  the  preservation  of  America,  and  the  Republican 
party  pledges  its  defense  of  the  preserved  inheritance 
of  national  freedom. 


SPEECH  OF  ACCEPTANCE  39 


TO  RESTORE  FORMAL  PEACE 

In  the  call  of  the  conscience  of  America  is  peace, 
peace  that  closes  the  gaping  wound  of  world  war, 
and  silences  the  impassioned  voices  of  international 
envy  and  distrust.  Heeding  this  call  and  knowing 
as  I  do  the  disposition  of  the  Congress,  I  promise  you 
formal  and  effective  peace  so  quickly  as  a  Republican 
Congress  can  pass  its  declaration  for  a  Republican  ex 
ecutive  to  sign.  Then  we  may  turn  to  our  readjust 
ment  at  home  and  proceed  deliberately  and  reflectively 
to  that  hoped-for  world  relationship  which  shall  satisfy 
both  conscience  and  aspirations  and  still  hold  us  free 
from  menacing  involvement. 

I  can  hear  in  the  call  of  conscience  an  insistent  voice 
for  the  largely  reduced  armaments  throughout  the 
world,  with  attending  reduction  of  burdens  upon 
peace-loving  humanity.  We  wish  to  give  of  American 
influence  and  example ;  we  must  give  of  American 
leadership  to  that  invaluable  accomplishment. 

I  can  speak  unreservedly  of  the  American  aspiration 
and  the  Republican  committal  for  an  association  of  na 
tions,  cooperating  in  sublime  accord,  to  attain  and  pre 
serve  peace  through  justice  rather  than  force,  deter 
mined  to  add  to  security  through  international  law,  so 
clarified  that  no  misconstruction  can  be  possible  with 
out  affronting  wrorld  honor. 

This  republic  can  never  be  unmindful  of  its  power, 
and  must  never  forget  the  force  of  its  example.  Pos 
sessor  of  might  that  admits  no  fear,  America  must 
stand  foremost  for  the  right.  If  the  mistaken  voice 
of  America,  spoken  in  unheeding  haste,  led  Europe, 


40  REDEDICATING  AMERICA 

in  the  hour  of  deepest  anxiety,  into  a  military  alliance 
which  menaces  peace  and  threatens  all  freedom,  in 
stead  of  adding  to  their  security,  then  we  must  speak 
the  truth  for  America  and  express  our  hope  for  the 
fraternized  conscience  of  nations. 

INDEPENDENT  AID  TO  WORLD  JUSTICE 

It  will  avail  nothing  to  discuss  in  detail  the  league 
covenant,  which  was  conceived  for  world  supergov- 
ernment,  negotiated  in  misunderstanding,  and  intol 
erantly  urged  and  demanded  by  its  administration 
sponsors,  who  resisted  every  effort  to  safeguard  Amer 
ica,  and  who  finally  rejected  when  such  safeguards 
were  inserted.  If  the  supreme  blunder  has  left  Euro 
pean  relationships  inextricably  interwoven  in  the 
league  compact,  our  sympathy  for  Europe  only  mag 
nifies  our  own  good  fortune  in  resisting  involvement. 
It  is  better  to  be  the  free  and  disinterested  agent  of 
international  justice  and  advancing  civilization,  with 
the  covenant  of  conscience,  than  be  shackled  by  a  writ 
ten  compact  which  surrenders  our  freedom  of  action 
and  gives  to  a  military  alliance  the  right  to  proclaim 
America's  duty  to  the  world.  No  surrender  of  rights 
to  a  world  council  or  its  military  alliance,  no  assumed 
mandatory,  however  appealing,  ever  shall  summon  the 
sons  of  this  republic  to  war.  Their  supreme  sacrifice 
shall  only  be  asked  for  America  and  its  call  of  honor. 
There  is  a  sanctity  in  that  right  we  will  not  delegate. 

When  the  compact  was  being  written,  I  do  not  know 
whether  Europe  asked  or  ambition  insistently  be 
stowed.  It  was  so  good  to  rejoice  in  the  world's  confi 
dence  in  our  unselfishness  that  I  can  believe  our  evident 


SPEECH  OF  ACCEPTANCE  41 

disinterestedness  inspired  Europe's  wish  for  our  asso 
ciation,  quite  as  much  as  the  selfish  thought  of  enlisting 
American  power  and  resources.  Ours  is  an  outstand 
ing,  influential  example  to  the  world,  whether  we  cloak 
it  in  spoken  modesty  or  magnify  it  in  exaltation.  We 
want  to  help ;  we  mean  to  help ;  but  we  hold  to  our  own 
interpretation  of  the  American  conscience  as  the  very 
soul  of  our  nationality. 

Disposed  as  we  are,  the  way  is  very  simple.  Let  the 
failure  attending  assumption,  obstinacy,  impractica 
bility  and  delay  be  recognized,  and  let  us  find  the  big, 
practical,  unselfish  way  to  do  our  part,  neither  cov 
etous  because  of  ambition  nor  hesitant  through  fear, 
but  ready  to  serve  ourselves,  humanity  and  God.  With 
a  Senate  advising  as  the  Constitution  contemplates,  I 
would  hopefully  approach  the  nations  of  Europe  and 
of  the  earth,  proposing  that  understanding  which 
makes  us  a  willing  participant  in  the  consecration  of 
nations  to  a  new  relationship,  to  commit  the  moral 
forces  of  the  world,  America  included,  to  peace  and  in 
ternational  justice,  still  leaving  America  free,  inde 
pendent  and  self-reliant,  but  offering  friendship  to  all 
the  world. 

TO  RESTORE  CONSTITUTION 

If  men  call  for  more  specific  details,  I  remind  them 
that  moral  committals  are  broad  and  all  inclusive,  and 
we  are  contemplating  peoples  in  the  concord  of  hu 
manity's  advancement.  From  our  own  view-point  the 
program  is  specifically  American,  and  we  mean  to  be 
Americans  first,  to  all  the  world. 

Appraising  preserved  nationality  as  the  first  essential 


42  REDEDICATING  AMERICA ' 

to  the  continued  progress  of  the  republic,  there  is 
linked  with  it  the  supreme  necessity  of  the  restoration 
— let  us  say  the  re-revealment — of  the  Constitution, 
and  our  reconstruction  as  an  industrial  nation. 
Here  is  the  transcending  task.  It  concerns  our 
common  weal  at  home  and  will  decide  our  fu 
ture  eminence  in  the  world.  More  than  these,  this 
republic,  under  constitutional  liberties,  has  given  to 
mankind  the  most  fortunate  conditions  for  human  ac 
tivity  and  attainment  the  world  has  ever  noted,  and 
we  are  to-day  the  world's  reserve  force  in  the  great 
contest  for  liberty  through  security,  and  maintained 
equality  of  opportunity  and  its  righteous  rewards. 

It  is  folly  to  close  our  eyes  to  outstanding  facts. 
Humanity  is  restive,  much  of  the  world  is  in  revolu 
tion,  the  agents  of  discord  and  destruction  have 
wrought  their  tragedy  in  pathetic  Russia,  have  lighted 
their  torches  among  other  peoples,  and  hope  to  see 
America  as  a  part  of  the  great  red  conflagration.  Ours 
is  the  temple  of  liberty  under  the  law,  and  it  is  ours 
to  call  the  Sons  of  Opportunity  to  its  defense.  Amer 
ica  must  not  only  save  herself,  but  ours  must  be  the  ap 
pealing  voice  to  sober  the  world. 

MUST  ENCOURAGE  COMPETITION 

More  than  all  else  the  present-day  world  needs  un 
derstanding.  There  can  be  no  peace  save  through 
composed  differences,  and  the  submission  of  the  indi 
vidual  to  the  will  and  weal  of  the  many.  Any  other 
plan  means  anarchy  and  its  rule  of  force. 

It  must  be  understood  that  toil  alone  makes  for  ac 
complishment  and  advancement,  and  righteous  posses- 


SPEECH  OF  ACCEPTANCE  43 

sion  is  the  reward  of  toil,  and  its  incentive.  There  is 
no  progress  except  in  the  stimulus  of  competition. 
When  competition — natural,  fair,  impelling  competi 
tion — is  suppressed,  whether  by  law,  compact  or  con 
spiracy,  we  halt  the  march  of  progress,  silence  the 
voice  of  aspiration,  and  paralyze  the  will  for  achieve 
ment.  These  are  but  common-sense  truths  of  human 
development. 

The  chief  trouble  to-day  is  that  the  world  war 
wrought  the  destruction  of  healthful  competition,  left 
our  storehouses  empty,  and  there  is  a  minimum  pro 
duction  when  our  need  is  maximum.  Maximums,  not 
minimums,  is  the  call  of  America.  It  isn't  a  new  story, 
because  war  never  fails  to  leave  depleted  storehouses 
and  always  impairs  the  efficiency  of  production.  War 
also  establishes  its  higher  standards  for  wages,  and 
they  abide.  I  wish  the  higher  wage  to  abide,  on  one 
explicit  condition — that  the  wage-earner  will  give  full 
return  for  the  wage  received.  It  is  the  best  assurance 
we  can  have  for  a  reduced  cost  of  living.  Mark  you, 
I  am  ready  to  acclaim  the  highest  standard  of  pay, 
but  I  would  be  blind  to  the  responsibilities  that  mark 
this  fateful  hour  if  I  did  not  caution  the  wage-earners 
of  America  that  mounting  wages  and  decreased  pro 
duction  can  lead  only  to  industrial  and  economic  ruin. 

INCREASED  PRODUCTION  GREAT  NEED 

I  want,  somehow,  to  appeal  to  the  sons  and  daugh 
ters  of  the  republic,  to  every  producer,  to  join  hand 
and  brain  in  production,  more  production,  honest  pro 
duction,  patriotic  production,  because  patriotic  pro 
duction  is  no  less  a  defense  of  our  best  civilization  than 


44  REDEDICATING  AMERICA 

that  of  armed  force.  Profiteering  is  a  crime  of  com 
mission,  under-production  is  a  crime  of  omission.  We 
must  work  our  most  and  best,  else  the  destructive  re 
action  will  come.  We  must  stabilize  and  strive  for 
normalcy,  else  the  inevitable  reaction  will  bring  its 
train  of  sufferings,  disappointments  and  reversals.  We 
want  to  forestall  such  reaction,  we  want  to  hold  all 
advanced  ground,  and  fortify  it  with  general  good- 
fortune. 

Let  us  return*  for  a  moment  to  the  necessity  for  Un 
derstanding,  particularly  that  understanding  which 
concerns  ourselves  at  home.  I  decline  to  recognize  any 
conflict  of  interest  among  the  participants  in  industry. 
The  destruction  of  one  is  the  ruin  of  the  other,  the 
suspicion  or  rebellion  of  one  unavoidably  involves  the 
other.  In  conflict  is  disaster,  in  understanding  there 
is  triumph.  There  is  no  issue  relating  to  the  founda 
tion  on  which  industry  is  builded,  because  industry  is 
bigger  than  any  element  in  its  modern  making.  But 
the  insistent  call  is  for  labor,  management  and  capital 
to  reach  understanding. 

INDUSTRIAL  COOPERATION  URGED 

The  human  element  comes  first,  and  I  want  the  em 
ployers  in  industry  to  understand  the  aspirations,  the 
convictions,  the  yearnings  of  the  millions  of  American 
wage-earners,  and  I  want  the  wage-earners  to  under 
stand  the  problems,  the  anxieties,  the  obligations  of 
management  and  capital,  and  all  of  them  must  under 
stand  their  relationship  to  the  people  and  their  obliga 
tion  to  the  republic.  Out  of  this  understanding  will 
come  the  unanimous  committal  to  economic  justice, 


SPEECH  OF  ACCEPTANCE  45 

and  in  economic  justice  lies  that  social  justice  which 
is  the  highest  essential  to  human  happiness. 

I  am  speaking  as  one  who  has  counted  the  contents 
of  the  pay  envelope  from  the  view-point  of  the  earner 
as  well  as  the  employer.  No  one  pretends  to  deny  the 
inequalities  which  are  manifest  in  modern  industrial 
life.  They  are  less  in  fact  than  they  were  before  or 
ganization  and  grouping  on  either  side  revealed  the 
inequalities,  and  conscience  has  wrought  more  justice- 
than  statutes  have  compelled,  but  the  ferment  of  the 
world  rivets  our  thoughts  on  the  necessity  of  progres 
sive  solution,  else  our  generation  will  suffer  the  experi 
ment  which  means  chaos  for  our  day  to  reestablish 
God's  plan  for  the  great  to-morrow. 

Speaking  our  sympathies,  uttering  the  conscience  of 
all  the  people,  mindful  of  our  right  to  dwell  amid  the 
good  fortunes  of  rational,  conscience-impelled  ad 
vancement,  we  hold  the  majesty  of  righteous  govern 
ment,  with  liberty  under  the  law,  to  be  our  avoidance 
of  chaos,  and  we  call  upon  every  citizen  of  the  republic 
to  hold  fast  to  that  which  made  us  what  we  are,  and 
we  will  have  orderly  government  safeguard  the  on 
ward  march  to  all  we  ought  to  be. 

CLASSISM  DECRIED 

The  menacing  tendency  of  the  present  day  is  not 
chargeable  wholly  to  the  unsettled  and  fevered  condi 
tions  caused  by  the  war.  The  manifest  weakness  in 
popular  government  lies  in  the  temptation  to  appeal  to 
grouped  citizenship  for  political  advantage.  There  is 
no  greater  peril.  The  Constitution  contemplates  no 
class  and  recognizes  no  group.  It  broadly  includes  all 


46  REDEDICATING  AMERICA 

the  people,  with  specific  recognition  for  none,  and  the 
highest  consecration  we  can  make  to-day  is  a  commit 
tal  of  the  Republican  party  to  that  saving  constitution 
alism  which  contemplates  all  America  as  one  people, 
and  holds  just  government  free  from  influence  on  the 
one  hand  and  unmoved  by  intimidation  on  the  other. 

It  would  be  the  blindness  of  folly  to  ignore  the  ac 
tivities  in  our  own  country  which  are  aimed  to  destroy 
our  economic  system,  and  to  commit  us  to  the  colossal 
tragedy  which  has  both  destroyed  all  freedom  and 
made  Russia  impotent.  This  movement  is  not  to  be 
halted  in  throttled  liberties.  We  must  not  abridge  the 
freedom  of  speech,  the  freedom  of  press,  or  the  free 
dom  of  assembly,  because  there  is  no  promise  in  re 
pression.  These  liberties  are  as  sacred  as  the  freedom 
of  religious  belief,  as  inviolable  as  the  rights  of  life 
and  the  pursuit  of  happiness.  We  do  hold  to  the  right 
to  crush  sedition,  to  stifle  a  menacing  contempt  for 
law,  to  stamp  out  a  peril  to  the  safety  of  the  republic 
or  its  people,  when  emergency  calls,  because  security 
and  the  majesty  of  the  law  are  the  first  essentials  of 
liberty.  He  who  threatens  destruction  of  the  govern 
ment  by  force  or  flaunts  his  contempt  for  lawful  au 
thority  ceases  to  be  a  loyal  citizen  and  forfeits  bis 
rights  to  the  freedom  of  the  republic. 

DELIBERATE  READJUSTMENT  SOUGHT 

Let  it  be  said  to  all  of  America  that  our  plan  of  pop 
ular  government  contemplates  such  orderly  changes 
as  the  crystallized  intelligence  of  the  majority  of  our 
people  think  best.  There  can  be  no  modification  of 
this  underlying  rule,  but  no  majority  shall  abridge  the 


SPEECH  OF  ACCEPTANCE  47 

rights  of  a  minority.  Men  have  a  right  to  question  our 
system  in  fullest  freedom,  but  they  must  always  re 
member  that  the  rights  of  freedom  impose  the  obliga 
tions  which  maintain  it.  Our  policy  is  not  of  re 
pression,  but  we  make  appeal  to-day  to  American 
intelligence  and  patriotism,  when  the  republic  is  men 
aced  from  within,  just  as  we  trusted  American  pa 
triotism  when  our  rights  were  threatened  from  without. 
We  call  on  all  America  for  steadiness,  so  that  we 
may  proceed  deliberately  to  the  readjustment  which 
concerns  all  the  people.  Our  party  platform  fairly  ex 
presses  the  conscience  of  Republicans  on  industrial  re 
lations.  No  party  is  indifferent  to  the  welfare  of  the 
wage-earner.  To  us  his  good  fortune  is  of  deepest 
concern,  and  we  seek  to  make  that  good  fortune  per 
manent.  We  do  not  oppose  but  approve  collective  bar 
gaining,  because  that  is  an  outstanding  right,  but  we 
are  unalterably  insistent  that  its  exercise  must  not  de 
stroy  the  equally  sacred  right  of  the  individual,  in  his 
necessary  pursuit  of  livelihood.  Any  American  has 
the  right  to  quit  his  employment,  so  has  every  Ameri 
can  the  right  to  seek  employment.  The  group  must 
not  endanger  the  individual,  and  we  must  discourage 
groups  preying  upon  one  another,  and  none  shall  be  al 
lowed  to  forget  that  government's  obligations  are 
alike  to  all  the  people. 

THE  RAILROAD  PROBLEM 

I  hope  we  may  do  more  than  merely  discourage  the 
losses  and  sufferings  attending  industrial  conflict.  The 
strike  against  the  government  is  properly  denied,  for 
government  service  involves  none  of  the  elements  of 


48  REDEDICATING  AMERICA 

profit  which  relate  to  competitive  enterprise.  There 
is  progress  in  the  establishment  of  official  revealment 
of  issues  and  conditions  which  lead  to  conflict,  so  that 
unerring  public  sentiment  may  speed  the  adjustment, 
but  I  hope  for  that  concord  of  purpose,  not  forced  but 
inspired  by  the  common  weal,  which  will  give  a  regu 
lated  public  service  the  fullest  guaranty  of  continuity. 
I  am  thinking  of  the  railroads.  In  modern  life  they 
are  the  very  base  of  all  our  activities  and  interchanges. 
For  public  protection  we  have  enacted  laws  providing 
for  a  regulation  of  the  charge  for  service,  a  limitation 
on  the  capital  invested  and  a  limitation  on  capital's 
earnings.  There  remains  only  competition  of  service 
on  which  to  base  our  hopes  for  an  efficiency  and  ex 
pansion  which  meet  our  modern  requirements.  The 
railway  workmen  ought  to  be  the  best  paid  and  know 
the  best  working  conditions  in  the  world.  Theirs  is 
an  exceptional  responsibility.  They  are  not  only  es 
sential  to  the  life  and  health  of  all  productive  activities 
of  the  people,  but  they  are  directly  responsible  for  the 
safety  of  traveling  millions.  The  government  which 
has  assumed  so  much  authority  for  the  public  good 
might  well  stamp  railway  employment  with  the  sanc 
tity  of  public  service  and  guarantee  to  the  railway  em 
ployees  that  justice  which  voices  the  American  con 
ception  of  righteousness  on  the  one  hand,  and  assure 
continuity  of  service  on  the  other. 

The  importance  of  the  railway  rehabilitation  is  so 
obvious  that  reference  seems  uncalled  for.  We  are  so 
confident  that  much  of  the  present-day  insufficiency 
and  inefficiency  of  transportation  are  due  to  the  wither 
ing  hand  of  government  operation  that  we  emphasize 


SPEECH  OF  ACCEPTANCE  49 

anew  our  opposition  to  government  ownership,  we 
want  to  expedite  the  reparation,  and  make  sure  the 
mistake  is  not  repeated. 

It  is  little  use  to  recite  the  story  of  development,  ex 
ploitation,  government  experiment  and  its  neglect,  gov 
ernment  operation  and  its  failures.  The  inadequacy 
of  trackage  and  terminal  facilities,  the  insufficiency  of 
equipment  and  the  inefficiency  of  operation  all  bear 
the  blighting  stamp  of  governmental  incapacity  during 
federal  operation.  The  work  of  rehabilitation  under 
the  restoration  of  private  ownership  deserves  our  best 
encouragement.  Billions  are  needed  in  new  equip 
ment,  not  alone  to  meet  the  growing  demand  for  serv 
ice,  but  to  restore  the  extraordinary  depreciation  due 
to  the  strained  service  of  war.  With  restricted  earn 
ings  and  with  speculative  profits  removed,  railway 
activities  have  come  to  the  realm  of  conservative  and 
constructive  service,  and  the  government  which  im 
paired  must  play  its  part  in  restoration.  Manifestly 
the  returns  must  be  so  gauged  that  necessary  capital 
may  be  enlisted,  and  we  must  foster  as  well  as  re 
strain. 

We  have  no  more  pressing  problem.  A  state  of  in 
adequate  transportation  facilities,  mainly  chargeable 
to  the  failure  of  governmental  experiment,  is  losing 
millions  to  agriculture,  it  is  hindering  industry,  it  is 
menacing  the  American  people  with  a  fuel  shortage 
little  less  than  a  peril.  It  emphasizes  the  present-day 
problem  and  suggests  that  spirit  of  encouragement  and 
assistance  which  commits  all  America  to  relieve  such 
an  emergency. 


50  REDEDICATING  AMERICA 


HIGHWAY  DEVELOPMENT  ADVOCATED 

The  one  compensation  amid  attending  anxieties  is 
our  new  and  needed  realization  of  the  vital  part  trans 
portation  plays  in  the  complexities  of  modern  life.  We 
are  not  to  think  of  rails  alone,  but  highways  from 
farm  to  market,  from  railway  to  farm,  arteries  of  life- 
blood  to  present-day  life,  the  quickened  ways  to  com 
munication  and  exchange,  the  answer  of  our  people 
to  the  motor  age.  We  believe  in  generous  federal  co 
operation  in  construction,  linked  with  assurances  of 
maintenance  that  will  put  an  end  to  criminal  waste  of 
public  funds  on  the  one  hand  arid  give  a  guaranty  of 
upkept  highways  on  the  other. 

Water  transportation  is  inseparably  linked  with  ad 
equacy  of  facilities,  and  we  favor  American  eminence 
on  the  seas,  the  practical  development  of  inland  water 
ways,  the  upbuilding  and  coordination  of  all  to  make 
them  equal  to  and  ready  for  every  call  of  developing 
and  widening  American  commerce.  I  like  that  recom 
mittal  to  thoughts  of  America  first  which  pledges  the 
Panama  Canal,  an  American  creation,  to  the  free  use 
of  American  shipping.  It  will  add  to  the  American 
reawakening. 

One  can  not  speak  of  industry  and  commerce,  and 
the  transportation  on  which  they  are  dependent,  with 
out  an  earnest  thought  of  the  abnormal  cost  of  living 
and  the  problems  in  its  wake.  It  is  easy  to  inveigh, 
but  that  avails  nothing.  And  it  is  far  too  serious  to 
dismiss  with  flaming  but  futile  promise. 

Eight  years  ago,  in  times  of  peace,  the  Democratic 
party  made  it  an  issue,  and  when  clothed  with  power 


SPEECH  OF  ACCEPTANCE  51 

that  party  came  near  to  its  accomplishment  by  destroy 
ing  the  people's  capacity  to  buy.  But  that  was  a  cure 
worse  than  the  ailment.  It  is  easy  to  understand  the 
real  causes,  after  which  the  patient  must  help  to  effect 
his  own  cure. 

DEFLATION   OF  FINANCE 

Gross  expansion  of  currency  and  credit  have  de 
preciated  the  dollar  just  as  expansion  and  inflation 
have  discredited  the  coins  of  the  world.  We  inflated 
in  haste,  we  must  deflate  in  deliberation.  We  debased 
the  dollar  in  reckless  finance,  we  must  restore  in  hon 
esty.  Deflation  on  the  one  hand  and  restoration  of  the 
one-hundred-cent  dollar  on  the  other  ought  to  have 
begun  on  the  day  after  the  armistice,  but  plans  were 
lacking  or  courage  failed.  The  unpreparedness  for 
peace  was  little  less  costly  than  unpreparedness  for 
war. 

We  can  promise  no  one  remedy  which  will  cure  an 
ill  of  such  wide  proportions,  but  we  do  pledge  that  ear 
nest  and  consistent  attack  which  the  party  platform 
covenants.  We  will  attempt  intelligent  and  courageous 
deflation,  and  strike  at  government  borrowing  which 
enlarges  the  evil,  and  we  will  attack  high  cost  of  gov 
ernment  with  every  energy  and  facility  which  attend 
Republican  capacity.  We  promise  that  relief  which  will 
attend  the  halting  of  waste  and  extravagance,  and  the 
renewal  of  the  practise  of  public  economy,  not  alone 
because  it  will  relieve  tax  burdens  but  because  it  will 
be  an  example  to  stimulate  thrift  and  economy  in  pri 
vate  life. 

I  have  already  alluded  to  the  necessity  for  the  ful- 


52  REDEDICATING  AMERICA 

ness  of  production,  and  we  need  the  fulness  of  service 
which  attends  the  exchange  of  products.  Let  us  speak 
the  irrefutable  truth,  high  wages  and  reduced  cost  of 
living  are  in  utter  contradiction  unless  we  have  the 
height  of  efficiency  for  wages  received. 

In  all  sincerity  we  promise  the  prevention  of  un 
reasonable  profits,  we  challenge  profiteering  with  all 
the  moral  force  and  the  legal  powers  of  government 
and  people,  but  it  is  fair,  aye,  it  is  timely,  to  give  re 
minder  that  law  is  not  the  sole  corrective  of  our  eco 
nomic  ills. 

THRIFT  AND  ECONOMY  ESSENTIAL 

Let  us  call  to  all  the  people  for  thrift  and  economy, 
for  denial  and  sacrifice  if  need  be,  for  a  nation-wide 
drive  against  extravagance  and  luxury,  ta  a  recommit 
tal  to  simplicity  of  living,  to  that  prudent  and  normal 
plan  of  life  which  is  the  health  of  the  republic.  There 
hasn't  been  a  recovery  from  the  waste  and  abnor 
malities  of  war  since  the  story  of  mankind  was  first 
written,  except  through  work  and  saving,  through  in 
dustry  and  denial,  while  needless  spending  and  heed 
less  extravagance  have  marked  every  decay  in  the  his 
tory  of  nations.  Give  the  assurance  of  that  rugged 
simplicity  of  American  life  which  marked  the  first  cen 
tury  of  amazing  development  and  this  generation  may 
underwrite  a  second  century  of  surpassing  accomplish 
ment. 

The  Republican  party  was  founded  by  farmers,  with 
the  sensitive  conscience  born  of  their  freedom  and 
their  simple  lives.  These  founders  sprang  from  the 
farms  of  the  then  Middle  West.  Our  party  has  never 


SPEECH  OF  ACCEPTANCE  53 

failed  in  its  realization  that  agriculture  is  essentially 
the  foundation  of  our  very  existence,  and  it  has  ever 
been  our  policy,  purpose  and  performance  to  protect 
and  promote  that  essential  industry. 

New  conditions,  which  attend  amazing  growth  and 
Extraordinary  industrial  development,  call  for  a  new 
and  forward-looking  program.  The  American  farmer 
had  a  hundred  and  twenty  millions  to  feed  in  the  home' 
market,  and  heard  the  cry  of  the  world  for  food  and 
answered  it,  though  he  faced  an  appalling  task  amid 
handicaps  never  encountered  before. 

AGRICULTURAL  COOPERATION  URGED 

In  the  rise  of  price  levels  there  have  come  increased 
appraisals  to  his  acres  without  adding  to  their  value 
in  fact,  but  which  do  add  to  his  taxes  and  expenses 
without  enhancing  his  returns.  His  helpers  have 
yielded  to  the  lure  of  shop  and  city,  until,  almost  alone, 
he  has  met  and  borne  the  burden  of  the  only  insistent 
attempts  to  force  down  prices.  It  challenges  both  the 
wisdom  and  the  justice  of  artificial  drives  on  prices  to 
recall  that  they  were  effective  almost  solely  against  his 
products  in  the  hands  of  the  producer  and  never 
effective  against  the  same  products  in  passing  to  the 
consumer.  Contemplating  the  defenselessness  of  the 
individual  farmer  to  meet  the  organized  buyers  of  his 
products  and  the  distributors  of  the  things  the  farmer 
buys,  I  hold  that  farmers  should  not  only  be  permitted 
but  encouraged  to  join  in  cooperative  association  to 
reap  the  just  measure  of  reward  merited  by  their  ar 
duous  toil.  Let  us  facilitate  cooperation  to  insure 
against  the  risks  attending  agriculture,  which  the  urban 


54  REDEDICATING  AMERICA 

world  so  little  understands,  and  a  like  cooperation  to 
market  their  products  as  directly  as  possible  with  the 
consumer,  in  the  interests  of  all.  Upon  such  associa 
tion  and  cooperation  should  be  laid  only  such  restric 
tions  as  will  prevent  arbitrary  control  of  our  food  sup 
ply  and  the  fixing  of  extortionate  price  upon  it. 

Our  platform  is  an  earnest  pledge  of  renewed  con- 
tern  for  this  most  essential  and  elemental  industry, 
and  in  both  appreciation  and  interest  we  pledge  effect 
ive  expression  in  law  and  practise.  We  will  hail  that 
cooperation  which  again  will  make  profitable  and  de 
sirable  the  ownership  and  operation  of  comparatively 
small  farms  intensively  cultivated,  and  which  will  fa 
cilitate  the  caring  for  the  products  of  farm  and  orchard 
without  the  lamentable  waste  under  present  conditions. 

America  would  look  with  anxiety  on  the  discourage 
ment  of  farming  activity  either  through  the  govern 
ment's  neglect  or  its  paralysis  by  socialistic  practises. 
A  Republican  administration  will  be  committed  to  re 
newed  regard  for  agriculture,  and  seek  the  participa 
tion  of  farmers  in  curing  the  ills  justly  complained  of, 
and  aim  to  place  the  American  farm  where  it  ought  to 
be — highly  ranked  in  American  activities  and  fully 
sharing  the  highest  good  fortunes  of  American  life. 

IRRIGATION  AND  RECLAMATION 

Becomingly  associated  with  this  subject  are  the  poli 
cies  of  irrigation  and  reclamation,  so  essential  to  agri 
cultural  expansion,  and  the  continued  development  of 
the  great  and  wonderful  West.  It  is  our  purpose  to 
continue  and  enlarge  federal  aid,  not  in  sectional  par 
tiality,  but  for  the  good  of  all  America.  We  hold  to 


SPEECH  OF  ACCEPTANCE  55 

that  harmony  of  relationship  between  conservation  and 
development,  which  fittingly  appraises  our  natural  re 
sources  and  makes  them  available  to  developing  Amer 
ica  of  to-day,  and  still  holds  to  the  conserving  thought 
for  the*America  of  to-morrow. 

The  federal  government's  relation  to  reclamation 
and  development  is  too  important  to  admit  of  ample 
discussion  to-day.  Alaska,  alone,  is  rich  in  resources 
beyond  all  imagination,  and  needs  only  closer  linking, 
through  the  lines  of  transportation  and  a  governmental 
policy  that  both  safeguards  and  encourages  develop 
ment,  to  speed  it  to  a  foremost  position  as  a  common 
wealth,  rugged  in  citizenship  and  rich  in  materialized 
resources. 

These  things  I  can  only  mention.  Within  becoming 
limits  one  can  not  say  more.  Indeed,  for  the  present 
many  questions  of  vast  importance  must  be  hastily 
passed,  reserving  a  fuller  discussion  to  suitable  occa 
sion  as  the  campaign  advances. 

SPECIFIC  PROPOSALS 

I  believe  the  budget  system  will  effect  a  necessary, 
helpful  reformation,  and  reveal  business  methods  to 
government  business. 

I  believe  federal  departments  should  be  made  more 
businesslike  and  send  back  to  productive  effort  thou 
sands  of  federal  employees  who  are  either  duplicating 
work  or  not  essential  at  all. 

I  believe  in  the  protective  tariff  policy  and  know  we 
will  be  calling  for  its  saving  Americanism  again. 

I  believe  in  a  great  merchant  marine — I  would  have 
this  republic  the  leading  maritime  nation  of  the  world. 


56  REDEDICATING  AMERICA 

I  believe  in  a  navy  ample  to  protect  it,  and  able  to 
assure  us  dependable  defense. 

I  believe  in  a  small  army,  but  the  best  in  the  world, 
with  a  mindfulness  for  preparedness  which  will  avoid 
the  unutterable  cost  of  our  previous  neglect. 

I  believe  in  our  eminence  in  trade  abroad,  which  the 
government  should  aid  in  expanding,  both  in  revealing 
markets  and  speeding  cargoes. 

I  believe  in  establishing  standards  for  immigration, 
which  are  concerned  with  the  future  citizenship  of  the 
republic,  not  with  mere  man-power  in  industry. 

I  believe  that  every  man  who  dons  the  garb  of 
American  citizenship  and  walks  in  the  light  of  Amer 
ican  opportunity  must  become  American  in  heart  and 
soul. 

I  believe  in  holding  fast  to  every  forward  step  in 
•  unshackling  child  labor  and  elevating  conditions  of 
woman's  employment. 

I  believe  the  federal  government  should  stamp  out 
lynching  and  remove  that  stain  from  the  fair  name  of 
America. 

I  believe  the  federal  government  should  give  its  ef 
fective  aid  in  solving  the  problem  of  ample  and  becom 
ing  housing  of  its  citizenship. 

I  believe  this  government  should  make  its  Liberty 
and  Victory  bonds  worth  all  that  its  patriotic  citizens 
paid  in  purchasing  them. 

I  believe  the  tax  burdens  imposed  for  the  war  emer 
gency  must  be  revised  to  the  needs  of  peace,  and  in 
the  interest  of  equity  in  distribution  of  the  burden. 

I  believe  the  negro  citizens  of  America  should  be 
guaranteed  the  enjoyment  of  all  their  rights,  that  they 


SPEECH  OF  ACCEPTANCE  57 

have  earned  the  full  measure  of  citizenship  bestowed, 
that  their  sacrifices  in  blood  on  the  battlefields  of  the 
republic  have  entitled  them  to  all  of  freedom  and  op 
portunity,  all  of  sympathy  and  aid  that  the  American 
spirit  of  fairness  and  justice  demands. 

I  believe  there  is  an  easy  and  open  path  to  righteous 
relationship  with  Mexico.  It  has  seemed  to  me  that 
our  undeveloped,  uncertain  and  infirm  policy  has  made 
us  a  culpable  party  to  the  governmental  misfortunes 
in  that  land.  Our  relations  ought  to  be  both  friendly 
and  sympathetic;  we  would  like  to  acclaim  a  stable 
government  there,  and  offer  a  neighborly  hand  in  point 
ing  the  way  to  greater  progress.  It  will  be  simple  to 
have  a  plain  and  neighborly  understanding,  merely  an 
understanding  about  respecting  our  borders,  about  pro 
tecting  the  lives  and  possessions  of  American  citizens 
lawfully  within  the  Mexican  dominions.  There  must 
be  that  understanding,  else  there  can  be  no  recognition, 
and  then  the  understanding  must  be  faithfully  kept. 

Many  of  these  declarations  deserve  a  fuller  expres 
sion,  with  some  suggestions  of  plans  to  emphasize  the 
faith.  Such  expression  will  follow,  in  due  time,  I 
promise  you. 

IMPORTANCE  OF  LAW  ENFORCEMENT 

I  believe  in  law  enforcement.  If  elected  I  mean  to 
be  a  constitutional  president,  and  it  is  impossible  to  ig 
nore  the  Constitution,  unthinkable  to  evade  the  law, 
when  our  very  committal  is  to  orderly  government. 
People  ever  will  differ  about  the  wisdom  of  the  enact 
ment  of  a  law — there  is  divided  opinion  respecting  the 
^eighteenth  amendment  and  the  laws  enacted  to  make  it 


58  REDEDICATING  AMERICA 

operative — but  there  can  be  no  difference  of  opinion 
about  honest  law  enforcement. 

Neither  government  nor  party  can  afford  to  cheat 
the  American  people.  The  laws  of  Congress  must  har 
monize  with  the  Constitution,  else  they  soon  are  ad 
judged  to  be  void;  Congress  enacts  the  laws,  and  the 
executive  branch  of  government  is  charged  with  en 
forcement.  We  can  not  nullify  because  of  divided 
opinion,  we  can  not  jeopardize  orderly  government 
with  contempt  for  law  enforcement.  Modification  or 
repeal  is  the  right  of  a  free  people,  whenever  the  de 
liberate  and  intelligent  public  sentiment  commands,  but 
perversion  and  evasion  mark  the  paths  to  the  failure  of 
government  itself. 

TRIBUTE  TO  WORLD  WAR  VETERANS 

Though  not  in  any  partisan  sense,  I  must  speak  of 
the  services  of  the  men  and  women  who  rallied  to  the 
colors  of  the  republic  in  the  world  war.  America  real 
izes  and  appreciates  the  services  rendered,  the  sacri 
fices  made  and  the  sufferings  endured.  There  shall  be 
no  distinction  between  those  who  knew  the  perils  and 
glories  of  the  battle  front  or  the  dangers  of  the  sea, 
and  those  who  were  compelled  to  serve  behind  the 
lines,  or  those  who  constituted  the  great  reserve  of  a 
grand  army  which  awaited  the  call  in  camps  at  home. 

All  were  brave,  all  were  sacrificing,  all  were  sharers 
of  those  ideals  which  sent  our  boys  thrice-armed  to 
war.  Worthy  sons  and  daughters,  these,  fit  successors 
to  those  who  christened  our  banners  in  the  immortal 
beginning,  worthy  sons  of  those  who  saved  the  Union 
and  nationality  when  civil  war  wiped  the  Ambiguity 


SPEECH  OF  ACCEPTANCE  59 

from  the  Constitution,  ready  sons  of  those  who  drew 
the  sword  for  humanity's  sake  the  first  time  in  the 
world,  in  1898. 

The  four  million  defenders  on  land  and  sea  were 
worthy  of  the  best  traditions  of  a  people  never  war 
like  in  peace  and  never  pacifist  in  war.  They  com 
manded  our  pride,  they  have  our  gratitude,  which  must 
have  genuine  expression.  It  is  not  only  a  duty,  it  is  a 
privilege  to  see  that  the  sacrifices  made  shall  be  re 
quited,  and  that  those  still  suffering  from  casualties 
and  disabilities  shall  be  abundantly  aided  and  restored 
to  the  highest  capabilities  of  citizenship  and  its  enjoy 
ment. 

WOMAN  SUFFRAGE 

The  womanhood  of  America,  always  its  glory,  its  in 
spiration  and  the  potent,  uplifting  force  in  its  social 
and  spiritual  development,  is  about  to  be  enfranchised. 
Insofar  as  Congress  can  go,  the  fact  is  already  accom 
plished.  By  party  edict,  by  my  recorded  vote,  by  per 
sonal  conviction  I  am  committed  to  this  measure  of 
justice.  It  is  my  earnest  hope,  my  sincere  desire  that 
the  one  needed  state  vote  be  quickly  recorded  in  the 
affirmation  of  the  right  of  equal  suffrage  and  that  the 
vote  of  every  citizen  shall  be  cast  and  counted  in  the 
approaching  election. 

Let  us  not  share  the  apprehensions  of  many  men  and 
women  as  to  the  danger  of  this  momentous  extension 
of  the  franchise.  Women  have  never  been  without  in 
fluence  in  our  political  life.  Enfranchisement  will 
bring  to  the  polls  the  votes  of  citizens  who  have  been 
born  upon  our  soil,  or  who  have  sought  in  faith  and  as- 


60  REDEDICATING  AMERICA 

surance  the  freedom  and  opportunities  of  our  land.  It 
will  bring  the  women  educated  in  our  schools,  trained 
in  our  customs  and  habits  of  thought,  and  sharers  of 
our  problems.  It  will  bring  the  alert  mind,  the  awak 
ened  conscience,  the  sure  intuition,  the  abhorrence  of 
tyranny  or  oppression,  the  wide  and  tender  sympathy 
that  distinguish  the  women  of  America.  Surely  there 
can  be  no  danger  there. 

And  to  the  great  number  of  noble  women  who  havef 
opposed  in  conviction  the  tremendous  change  in  the 
ancient  relation  of  the  sexes  as  applied  to  government, 
I  venture  to  plead  that  they  will  accept  the  full  respon 
sibility  of  enlarged  citizenship  and  give  to  the  best  in 
the  republic  their  suffrage  and  support. 

CONFIDENCE  IN  AMERICA 

Much  has  been  said  of  late  about  world  ideals,  but 
I  prefer  to  think  of  the  ideal  for  America.  I  like  to 
think  there  is  something  more  than  the  patriotism  and 
practical  wisdom  of  the  founding  fathers.  It  is  good 
to  believe  that  maybe  destiny  held  this  New-World  re 
public  to  be  the  supreme  example  of  representative  de 
mocracy  and  orderly  liberty  by  which  humanity  is  in 
spired  to  higher  achievement.  It  is  idle  to  think  we 
have  attained  perfection,  but  there  is  the  satisfying 
knowledge  that  we  hold  orderly  processes  for  making 
our  government  reflect  the  heart  and  mind  of  the  re 
public.  Ours  is  not  only  a  fortunate  people  but  a  very 
common-sensical  people,  with  vision  high  but  their  feet 
on  the  earth,  with  belief  in  themselves  and  faith  in 
God.  Whether  enemies  threaten  from  without  or  men 
aces  arise  from  within,  there  is  some  indefinable  voice 


SPEECH  OF  ACCEPTANCE  61 

saying:  "Have  confidence  in  the  republic!  America 
will  go  on !" 

Here  is  a  temple  of  liberty  no  storms  may  shake, 
here  are  the  altars  of  freedom  no  passions  shall  de 
stroy.  It  was  American  in  conception,  American  in 
its  building,  it  shall  be  American  in  the  fulfillment. 
Sectional  once,  we  are  all  American  now,  and  we  mean 
to  be  all  Americans  to  all  the  world. 

Mr.  Chairman,  members  of  the  committee,  my  coun 
trymen  all :  I  would  not  be  my  natural  self  if  I  did  not 
utter  my  consciousness  of  my  limited  ability  to  meet 
your  full  expectations,  or  to  realize  the  aspirations 
within  my  own  breast,  but  I  will  gladly  give  all  that  is 
in  me,  all  of  heart,  soul  and  mind  and  abiding  love  of 
country,  to  service  in  our  common  cause.  I  can  only 
pray  to  the  omnipotent  God  that  I  may  be  as  worthy 
in  service  as  I  know  myself  to  be  faithful  in  thought 
and  purpose.  One  can  not  give  more.  Mindful  of  the 
vast  responsibilities  I  must  be  frankly  humble,  but  I 
have  that  confidence  in  the  consideration  and  support 
of  all  true  Americans  which  makes  me  wholly  unafraid. 
With  an  unalterable  faith  and  in  a  hopeful  spirit,  with 
a  hymn  of  service  in  my  heart,  I  pledge  fidelity  to  our 
country  and  to  God,  and  accept  the  nomination  of  the 
Republican  party  for  the  presidency  of  the  IJnited 
States. 


CHAPTER  III 
SAFEGUARDING  AMERICA 

'Address  on  the  League  of  Nations  in  the  United  States 
Senate,  September  n,  ipip 

MR.  PRESIDENT — If  it  were  not  for  seeming  indif 
ference  in  an  hour  of  imperiled  nationality,  I  believe  I 
should  be  content  to  rest  my  expression  as  to  the  pend 
ing  treaty  wholly  on  the  report  of  the  Committee  on 
Foreign  Relations.  I  say  this  with  propriety,  I  think, 
because  I  had  no  part  in  its  writing,  though  I  was  a 
participant  in  the  conclusions  reached.  My  judgment 
is  that  it  is  one  of  the  American  documents  well  worthy 
of  preservation. 

Mr.  President,  every  day  of  discussion,  presidential 
utterances  included,  and  every  hour  of  study  combine 
to  persuade  me  that  the  league  of  nations  venture  in 
the  form  in  which  the  covenant  has  been  negotiated 
is  one  of  peril  to  the  republic.  To  accept  it  unaltered 
would  be  a  betrayal  of  America.  It  is  not  for  me  to 
consider  constitutional  inhibitions.  There  is  probably 
nothing  to  prevent  a  nation  undertaking  self-destruc 
tion  by  indirection  or  otherwise  if  the  treaty-making 
powers  are  in  accord  about  the  desirability  of  such  a 
course.  Nor  is  it  for  me  to  discuss  the  finer  points 
involved  in  international  law  and  diplomatic  niceties, 
because  once  the  league  is  established  it  becomes  the 

62 


SAFEGUARDING  AMERICA  63 

maker   of   international   law   and   diplomacy   ends   in 
league  autocracy. 

NATIONALITY  IS  PARAMOUNT 

Such  impressions  as  I  wish  to  offer  are  the  very 
simple  ones  of  an  American  who  is  jealous  of  the  re 
public's  nationality  and  fears  paralysis  in  that  inter- 
nationality  which  is  the  league's  loftiest  aim.  Sub 
merged  nationality  and  supreme  internationality  are 
more  to  be  expected  than  the  proclaimed  permanency 
of  peace,  which  first  caught  the  sympathy  and  support 
of  a  peace-loving  world. 

Mr.  President,  I  know  the  natural  aspirations  of 
civilized  humanity  and  share  them.  I  know  how  the 
heart  of  the  world,  torn  and  bleeding  and  anguished 
and  palpitant  in  the  cataclysmal  war,  throbs  in  hunger 
for  assured  tranquillity.  I  pity  him  who  has  not  felt 
the  yearnings  within  his  own  breast.  No  real  Ameri 
can  is  so  bereft  of  feeling.  There  is  no  monopoly  of 
the  love  of  peace,  and  there  is  no  exclusiveness  in 
concern  for  humanity's  sake.  Neither  is  there  a  limited 
circle  of  those  who  act  in  patriotic  devotion  nor 
restricted  groups  in  loving  our  common  country.  I 
say  these  perfectly  obvious  things  because  it  is  time 
to  clear  up  some  mistaken  impressions.  The  pro 
ponents  of  the  Wilsonian  league  of  nations  have  no 
more  claim  to  an  exclusive  desire  for  the  peace  of  our 
country  and  the  world  than  the  opponents  of  this 
league  have  exclusive  claim  to  patriotic  devotion  to  our 
own  nation.  And  the  considerable  numbers  who  are 
grieving  that  there  is  involved  in  the  treaty-making 


64  REDEDICATING  AMERICA 

power  of  a  portion  of  the  Senate  which  is  impelled  by 
partisan  bias  ought  to  revise  their  judgment,  because 
it  is  as  unfair  and  uncomplimentary  to  one  side  as  the 
other  and  challenges  the  wisdom  of  popular  govern 
ment.  However,  if  disagreement  with  the  executive, 
now  that  the  war  is  won,  is  to  invite  the  charge  of 
narrow  partisanship,  I  welcome  it  and  am  content  to 
let  it  go  at  that. 

INVOLVEMENTS  OF  LEAGUE 

It  was  the  truth,  last  year,  two  years  ago,  three  and 
four  years  ago,  the  people  of  this  country  were  heed 
lessly  and  overwhelmingly  for  a  league  of  nations, 
or  a  society  of  nations,  or  a  world  court,  or  some  inter 
national  association  which  should  develop  a  fraternity 
of  action  among  civilized  peoples  and  save  humanity 
not  only  from  the  sorrows  and  sufferings  like  those 
which  came  with  the  war  now  ended,  but  from  the  in 
volvements  of  which  we  are  not  yet  emerged.  Many 
leaders  of  the  party  represented  on  this  side  of  the 
chamber  were  conspicuous  in  its  advocacy,  and  thou 
sands  less  notable  joined  the  chorus.  Among  the 
latter  I  joined  in  writing  a  favoring  declaration  in  the 
platform  of  the  Republican  party  in  Ohio,  which  I 
think  fairly  voiced  the  aspirations  of  the  people  of  that 
state.  In  the  popular  thought  was  the  wish  to  abolish 
war  and  promote  peace  and  make  justice  supreme, 
and  it  was  believed  that  the  world,  war  wearied  and 
drenched  with  the  blood  of  millions  of  devoted  nation 
alists,  would  be  ready  for  the  committal.  Our  people 
were  thinking  of  the  thing  desired,  and  never  pondered 
the  method  or  the  cost  of  its  making.  Nobody  stopped 


SAFEGUARDING  AMERICA  65 

to  think  of  the  involvements  then.    We  are  only  learn 
ing  them  now. 

It  would  have  been  well  to  have  counseled  with 
one  another  before  the  covenant  was  fashioned.  The 
people  voted  such  a  preference  most  emphatically  last 
November.  Most  people  thought  there  would  be  coun 
seling,  and  it  ought  to  have  been  done.  When  the 
armistice  brought  humanity's  greatest  sigh  of  relief 
since  fellowship  engirdled  the  earth,  it  was  the  com 
mon  thought  that  sympathy  would  inspire  and  justice 
would  impel  and  safety  would  demand  some  created 
agency  of  the  conscience  of  the  world  that  should 
contribute  to  the  furtherance  of  peace  and  maintained 
tranquillity.  But  the  immediate  task  was  the  settlement 
of  the  war  suspended  by  the  armistice.  The  manifest 
yearning  was  for  recovery  from  madness  and  destruc 
tion  and  waste  and  disorder,  and  the  instincts  of  self- 
preservation  called  for  speedy  restoration.  No  one 
doubted  that  the  measureless  cost  and  unspeakable 
suffering  would  awaken  the  consciences  of  nations  to 
take  stock  of  their  relationships  and  readjust  them  to 
guard  against  recurrent  horrors.  But  the  pressing  call 
was  for  peace,  peace  among  the  belligerent  powers, 
peace  for  convalescence,  peace  for  deliberation,  peace 
for  that  understanding  which  is  the  first  essential  in 
undertaking  a  world- wide  covenant  which  mankind 
had  never  effected  heretofore. 

AMERICA  ESSENTIAL  FACTOR  IN  WAR 

No  one  can  doubt  the  advantageous  position  of  this 
republic  when  the  armistice  was  signed.  We  had 
proyen  our  unselfishness.  We  alone  had  not  won  the 


66  REDEDICATING  AMERICA 

war,  but  our  entrance  into  the  conflict  in  April,  1917, 
saved  the  waning  morale  of  allied  nations  which  bore 
the  brunt  of  German  attack,  and  our  first  expedition 
ary  forces  in  the  summer  of  1917  revived  the  droopftig 
spirits  of  the  fighting  forces  of  France  and  England, 
and  in  1918  the  sons  of  this  republic  turned  the  sweep 
ing  tide  of  battle  backward.  It  is  not  unseemly  to  say 
our  forces  were  an  absolutely  essential  factor  in  the 
winning,  though  our  2,000,000  of  fighting  and  ir 
resistible  Americans  were  only  a  partial  expression  of 
our  resources  and  our  resolution  that  Germany  and 
her  allies  must  be  brought  to  terms.  It  is  a  glorious 
record  which  calls  for  no  recital  here.  I  am  trying  only 
to  call  to  mind  our  advantageous  position — the  grati 
tude  of  the  powers  with  whom  we  were  associated, 
the  belated  realization  and  respect  of  the  Central  Pow 
ers,  the  tardy  awakening  of  Germany,  who  learned 
the  lesson  that  Americans  could  and  would  fight,  and 
the  world's  understanding  of  our  unselfishness  in  the 
defense  of  our  national  rights. 

The  loftiness  of  our  position  was  correctly  and 
creditably  appraised,  notwithstanding  the  excessive 
proclamation  of  democracy  and  humanity.  The  latter 
was  mainly  for  home  consumption.  It  may  be  taken 
as  one  of  the  inevitable  things  in  popular  government, 
it  was  distinctly  a  symptom  of  our  neglect  of  the 
American  spirit.  Those  who  stop  to  analyze  know, 
of  course,  that  if  the  German  assault  had  been  aimed 
at  the  world's  democracy — our  defense  of  democracy 
ought  to  have  answered  with  every  American  gun 
when  Belgium  was  invaded.  And  the  same  analytical 
thought  must  have  persuaded  the  thinking  American 


N 


SAFEGUARDING  AMERICA          67; 

that  if  it  was  our  duty  to  make  war  for  humanity's 
sake,  duty  called  loudly  above  the  horrified  exclama 
tion  of  the  world  when  the  Lusitania  was  sunk  without 
pity  for  dying  humanity  on  her  unsuspecting  decks. 
I  am  not  indulging  in  belated  complaint,  because  I 
knew  the  tremendous  seriousness  of  plunging  the  re 
public  in  war,  and  I  knew  then  our  unreadiness  of 
spirit  for  such  a  committal.  The  point  I  am  aiming  at 
is  to  clarify  our  purpose  in  entering  the  war  in  order 
to  emphasize  our  favorable  position  when  it  came  to 
an  end.  The  everlasting  truth  is  that  we  were  lashed 
by  German  ruthlessness  to  a  defense  of  our  national 
rights,  and  we  did  defend  them,  until  Germany's  power 
for  ruthlessness  has  been  destroyed  beyond  recovery 
for  generations  to  come.  We  defended  only  our  rights, 
and  we  know  now,  if  we  did  not  realize  before,  that 
the  nation  which  does  not  defend  its  national  rights 
does  not  deserve  to  survive.  We  did  not  ask  more, 
except  to  help  in  righteous  restoration,  and  the  world 
correctly  appraised  the  unselfishness  which  marked 
our  efforts. 

COUNSEL  NEEDED  AT  PEACE  CONFERENCE 

It  was  a  very  simple  course  to  have  taken.  Ours 
was  a  commanding  voice  in  the  adjustments  of  peace, 
willingly  and  gladly  heeded.  It  was  ours  to  pass  judg 
ment  on  the  terms  of  peace  and  speed  their  conclusion. 
I  must  confess,  Senators,  I  could  find  no  fault  with  the 
president  going  to  the  peace  table.  The  world  had 
never  seen  before  such  an  opportunity  for  service,  and 
I  thought  it  fitting  that  the  first  citizen  of  the  republic 
should  £Q_  and  utter  the  unbiased  advice  of  America 


68  REDEDICATING  AMERICA 

amid  the  embitterments  and  prejudices  that  had  grown 
out  of  twenty  centuries  of  European  conflict.  I  do 
not  share  the  criticism  that  he  invited  no  members 
of  this  body,  which  must  approve  every  treaty  to  which 
the  republic  is  committed.  I  do  complain  that  in 
this  most  extraordinary  and  unparalleled  wreck  in  the 
wake  of  world-wide  war  he  consented  to  counsel  and 
advise  with  none  who  have  sworn  duties  to  perform, 
and  devoted,  essentially  alone,  his  talents  and  his 
supreme  influence  to  reformations  and  restitutions, 
and  the  establishment  of  governments  and  the  realiza 
tions  of  ambitions  and  the  fulfillment  of  dreams  which 
human  struggles  and  battling  peoples  and  heroic  sacri 
fices  have  not  effected  since  the  world  began,  and  never 
will  be  realized  until  that  millennial  day  that  marks 
the  beginning  of  heaven  on  earth.  The  situation  pre 
sented  intensely  practical  problems,  and  he  clung  mainly 
to  lofty  theories. 

Sometimes  I  think  a  very  capable  writer  of  history 
is  very  much  spoiled  for  the  making  of  it.  I  can  recall 
now  my  reverent  regard  for  Julius  Caesar  when  I 
struggled  with  his  recital  of  the  wars  in  Gaul.  It  re 
quired  a  wider  reading  before  I  realized  that  the 
great  commoner  of  that  day  was  making  history  and 
recording  it  for  the  effect  it  might  and  did  have  south 
of  the  Rubicon.  It  is  easy  to  understand  the  perfectly 
natural  and  laudable  ambition  to  do  the  superlative 
thing  which  history  is  waiting  to  record,  which  super 
lative  thing  was  in  the  historian's  mind,  but  it  needed 
penetrating  vision  to  meet  the  pressing,  practical  prob 
lems  which  were  awaiting  solution,  by  very  practical 
men. 


SAFEGUARDING  AMERICA  69 

9BCRKT  BAKTSRllfC  UNHEBDBB 

One  can  conceive  the  idealist  who  is  blind  to  the  bald 
realities  of  secret  covenants  and  selfish  bartering  inci 
dent  to  the  alliances  wrought  amid  the  anxieties  and 
necessities  of  so  stupendous  a  war.  Nations  were 
battling  for  their  very  existence,  and  they  made  pledges 
with  little  reckoning  of  the  future.  It  was  as 
sumed  our  government  knew  the  details,  but  the  as 
sumption  was  a  mistaken  one.  The  president  frankly 
said  he  did  not  know.  Merely  fighting  in  our  own 
defense,  it  was  excusable  for  us  not  to  know,  for  we 
should  have  given  to  our  utmost  of  lives  and  treasure 
regardless  of  the  aftermath.  But  in  joining  the  strug 
gle  professedly  for  democracy's  sake,  we  ought  to 
have  had  some  forecast  of  democracy's  fate  in  the 
pregnant  aftermath.  More,  to  meddle  effectively  in 
the  affairs  of  the  world,  we  ought  to  have  known  the 
world's  promises.  Herein  lies  the  weakness  of  our 
whole  part  at  the  peace  table. 

The  war  had  its  inception  in  German  ambition,  ex 
panded  domain,  if  not  world  domination,  all  conceived 
in  drunkenness  with  power.  It  was  met  in  self-defense 
— righteous  self-defense — but  there  was  inevitable  con 
sideration  of  the  spoils  of  victory.  They  became  the 
inspiration  and  considerations  of  alliances,  and  there 
were  understandings,  written  and  unwritten.  We 
should  be  blind  not  to  recognize  the  necessity  and 
naturalness  of  it.  The  pity  is  that  we  did  not  recog 
nize  the  evident  truth  and  speak  with  the  confident 
voice  of  justice,  and  hold  ourselves  aloof  from  any 
committal  which  savored  of  unrighteousness.  If 


70  REDEDICATING  AMERICA 

Europe,  in  the  stress  of  war  or  out  of  it,  will  barter 
in  territories  and  peoples,  we  can  not  hinder,  but  we 
need  not  approve  and  surely  we  must  not  guarantee. 


Whether  the  president  knew  the  details  of  negoti 
ated  selfishness  while  the  war  was  raging,  it  was  in~ 
evitable  that  he  soon  learned  when  he  made  his  tri 
umphant  landing  on  the  friendly  soil  of  France.  It 
was  not  then  too  late  to  hold  aloof.  We  were  seeking 
only  peace.  We  sought  no  territory,  no  mandatory, 
no  reparation — nothing  was  asked.  Our  unselfishness 
was  genuine,  to  the  everlasting  honor  of  this  republic. 
But  the  glory  of  the  league  of  nations — an  appealing 
conception — filled  the  American  commission's  vision, 
while  distinctly  American  interests — aye,  sacred  Ameri 
can  interests — were  ignored  and  forgotten  in  a  new 
and  consuming  concern  for  the  world. 

Empires  and  sovereign  states,  autocratic,  imperial, 
or  democratic,  had  fought  and  sacrificed  and  bargained 
and  covenanted — and  we  had  fought  with  them — and 
they  craved  peace  and  we  craved  peace.  But  they 
wanted  annexations  and  extensions  and  creations,  and 
they  wanted  this  republic,  with  its  resources — with  its 
wealth  of  men  and  materials — to  guarantee  the  changes 
they  had  wrought,  and  wanted  the  United  States  of 
America  in  their  unselfishness  to  guarantee  in  per 
petuity  the  selfishness  of  the  Old  World. 

NOTHING  SUBSTANTIAL  OFFERED 

They  had  nothing  to  offer  us  but  the  phantasmal 
thing,  taking  the  elusory  shape  of  the  image  of  peace. 


SAFEGUARDING  AMERICA  71 

a  promise  deeply  appealing  to  the  aspirations  of  our 
selves  and  the  world,  for  tranquillity  and  the  banish 
ment  of  war.  And  we  bargained  for  it,  and  then  they 
fashioned  it  into  a  reality,  suited  to  serve  Europe  and 
the  Orient  as  the  seal  of  righteousness  on  all  to  which 
the  allied  powers  had  agreed. 

Mr.  President,  I  grant  the  worthiness,  the  loftiness 
of  the  ideal  when  we  look  above  and  beyond  the  im 
morality  which  it  cloaks.  One  must  concede  the  good 
which  is  aimed  at.  No  one  who  is  sincere  can  question 
the  desirability  of  closer  fraternity  among  the  nations 
of  the  earth.  No  thoughtful  citizen  of  any  country 
will  dispute  the  need  of  the  clarification  and  codifica 
tion  of  international  law.  Such  a  thing  might  have 
saved  us  from  involvement  in  the  European  war,  un 
less  Germany  was  madly  determined  to  effect  her  own 
destruction. 

SUPERGOVERNMENT  CREATED 

International  arbitration  and  a  world  court  for  jus 
ticiable  disputes  appeal  to  all  who  think  justice  is  sus 
tained  in  reason  rather  than  in  armed  dispute.  The 
establishment  of  an  agency  for  the  revelation  of  the 
moral  judgment  of  the  world  can  never  be  amiss. 
These  things  might  well  have  come  out  of  the  com 
bined  consciences  of  the  nations  awakened  to  new 
ideals  amid  the  sufferings  of  war,  and  they  will  yet 
come.  But  it  does  not  require  a  supergovernment  to 
effect  them,  nor  the  surrender  of  nationality  and  inde 
pendence  of  action  to  sanction  them. 

It  is  my  deliberate  conviction  that  the  league  of 
nations  covenant,  as  negotiated  at  Paris  and  signed  at 


72  REDEDICATING  AMERICA 

Versailles,  either  creates  a  supergovernment  of  the 
nations  which  enter  it  or  it  will  prove  the  colossal 
disappointment  of  the  ages.  Though  it  would  be  vastly 
more  serious  as  the  former,  I  can  not  believe  this  re 
public  ought  to  sanction  it  in  either  case.  Why  pro 
claim  a  promise  that  will  embitter  the  world's  disap 
pointment  ? 

DISARMAMENT  NOT  ACCOMPLISHED 

Let  us  note,  first,  the  probability  of  disappointment. 
Does  it  effect  disarmament?  The  member  nations 
decide  for  themselves  the  necessary  size  of  their  armed 
forces,  which  are  not  to  be  increased  except  with  the 
league's  approval.  Of  course  there  is  to  be  studied 
recommendation  for  reduction,  but  any  two  powers 
in  concerted  action  may  reject  the  entire  program. 
Who  has  heard  of  a  proposal  to  diminish  the  great 
British  navy,  which  holds  Great  Britain  undisputed 
mistress  of  the  world's  seas  ?  Few  will  question  Great 
Britain's  wisdom  in  her  well-known  attitude.  Surely 
no  British  subject  will  question  it.  She  has  an  empire 
to  defend  and  a  commerce  to  guard,  without  which 
England's  glory  is  at  an  end. 

Only  a  few  days  ago  the  cabled  news  told  us  that 
France  will  maintain  a  larger  army  than  that  republic 
possessed  when  she  entered  the  world  war.  Doubtless 
France's  security  demands  it,  in  spite  of  the  negotiated 
alliance  which  calls  the  United  States  and  Great 
Britain  to  her  aid  in  case  of  a  renewed  German  assault. 
We  know  little  about  Japan,  but  we  do  know  that 
Japan  may  fix  her  own  limitations  as  to  army  and 


SAFEGUARDING  AMERICA  73 

navy,  "taking  into  account  geographical  conditions 
and  national  safety,"  until  under  this  treaty  we  give 
our  sons  and  our  resources  to  the  enforcement  of 
international  agreements  by  common  action  under 
articles  8  and  10. 

Is  disarmament  looming  as  a  hope  realized?  Look 
for  an  instant  at  home.  With  the  league  confidently 
expected,  with  all  its  blessings  of  peace,  limited  only 
by  "interpretations,"  we  are  contemplating  an  army 
of  half  a  million,  seven  times  our  previous  establish 
ment  in  peace,  and  the  men,  in  Congress  or  out,  who 
would  cut  our  program  for  an  expanded  navy  are  few 
and  far  between.  More,  the  man  who  would  suggest 
it  would  be  unmindful  of  our  security.  Verily,  he 
who  sees  world  disarmament  in  this  league  covenant 
has  a  faith  which  surpasses  understanding. 

ARBITRATION    NOT   ASSURED 

Will  nations  arbitrate  their  differences  under  the 
league  covenant  ?  They  will  if  both  parties  to  the  dis 
pute  are  agreed,  and  they  can  not  do  that  without  it. 
Under  the  covenant  one  party  may  decline,  then  the 
council  takes  the  case,  and  we  have  recently  come  to 
know  the  recommendations  of  the  council  constitute 
its  judgment  only  as  to  a  "moral"  obligation. 

We  have  heard  much  lately  about  "moral"  obliga 
tions.  When  a  thing  is  covenanted  it  is  difficult  for 
me  to  distinguish  between  moral  and  legal  obligation. 
For  this  republic  either  or  both  ought  to  be  solemnly 
binding.  The  nation  which  ignores  either  is  losing 
the  conscience  which  is  essential  to  self-respect  and 


74  REDEDICATING  AMERICA 

respect  among  nations.  It  was  Germany's  contempt 
for  a  "scrap  of  paper"  that  made  her  an  outcast  in 
the  eyes  of  the  civilized  world. 

There  has  been  a  curious  conflict  of  meaning  in  the 
use  of  the  word  "moral."  When  senators,  speaking 
in  this  chamber  in  defense  of  the  league  covenant, 
found  opposition  developing  to  the  powers  conveyed 
in  article  10,  they  hastened  to  say  the  council's  call  to 
war,  armed  or  economic,  in  defense  of  any  member 
was  not  binding — "only  a  moral  obligation."  I 
have  heard  the  term  quoted  again  and  again  and  in  the 
recorded  conference  between  members  of  the  Foreign 
Relations  Committee  and  the  president  it  was  declared 
by  the  president  that  we  were  not  bound  to  go  to  war 
on  recommendation  of  the  council,  that  there  was 
"only  a  moral  obligation,"  on  which  we  should  have 
to  pass  judgment  for  ourselves.  Later  on,  in  the 
record  of  the  meeting,  the  president  emphatically  de 
clared  a  moral  obligation  the  most  binding  of  all.  Let 
every  man  make  the  distinction  that  he  prefers.  A 
contract  is  a  contract,  a  covenant  is  a  covenant,  and 
if  this  republic  does  not  mean  to  do  as  it  promises, 
it  has  no  business  to  make  the  promise. 

ARTICLE  TEN   MERE  PHANTOM 

There  is  no  language  in  the  covenant  more  plain 
than  article  10.  Either  it  means  what  it  says,  and  obli 
gates  the  member  nations  to  go  to  war  in  defense  of  a 
member  nation,  or  it  means  nothing  at  all.  If  it  leaves 
any  member  nation  free  to  exercise  its  own  judgment 
as  to  the  merits  of  any  attack,  it  does  not  guarantee 
the  territorial  integrity  or  peace  of  any  nation.  It  is 


SAFEGUARDING  AMERICA  75 

worse  than  phantom ;  it  is  the  mirage  that  lures  nations 
thirsting  for  peace  to  the  very  desert  of  cruel  destruc 
tion.  The  pity  of  it  is  that  no  reservation  will  cure 
the  ill.  Without  the  power,  which  is  clearly  expressed, 
"the  league  is  a  rope  of  sand,"  as  the  senator  from 
Connecticut  described  it,  and  with  the  power  estab 
lished,  as  it  must  be  to  make  the  league  effective,  we 
have  surrendered  our  own  freedom  of  action  to  a 
council  whose  members  will  represent  the  prejudices, 
ambitions,  hatreds,  and  jealousies  of  the  Old  World,  or 
to  the  assembly,  where  we  are  outvoted  six  to  one  by 
Great  Britain  and  her  colonies,  and  we  still  remain  a 
party  to  the  racial,  geographical,  and  inherited  enmities 
of  Europe  and  the  Orient. 

Many  have  written  me,  and  senators  have  spoken 
and  the  president  has  argued,  that  we  are  no  longer 
isolated  from  the  Old  World,  that  we  have  a  duty  to 
humanity,  and  we  can  not  escape  our  manifest  duty 
to  world  civilization.  It  is  urged  that  we  struck  down 
the  barriers  when  we  sent  the  sons  of  the  republic 
to  war,  and  there  can  be  no  withdrawal  now.  One 
can  not  dispute  our  ever-widening  influence;  none 
would  narrow  it.  It  began  when  we  unsheathed  the 
sword  literally  in  behalf  of  humanity  for  the  first  time 
in  the  world.  That  was  when  we  went  to  war  to 
liberate  Cuba  and  expanded  to  the  Philippines.  It  is 
easy  to  recall  the  outcry  against  imperialism  then  by 
the  very  adherents  of  world  sponsorship  to-day — aye, 
by  those  who  only  three  years  ago  would  have  furled 
the  flag  there,  and  promise  it  now,  after  our  contri 
bution  to  one  defenseless  people's  progress  unmatched 
in  all  history. 


76  REDEDICATING  AMERICA 


FOUOfTT  FOR  AMBRI6AN  SIGHTS 

Ours  is  truly  an  expanded  influence  and  a  world 
interest,  but  there  is  yet  for  us  a  splendid  isolation. 
The  sons  of  America,  2,000,000  of  them,  crossed  the 
seas  in  spite  of  submarine  ruthlessness  and  every 
danger  Germany  could  devise,  and  2,000,000  more  were 
ready,  and  5,000,000  more  would  have  prepared  if 
needed,  and  they  heroically  fought  and  effectively 
taught  arrogant  Germany  to  respect  American  rights 
and  left  a  wholesome  impress  on  the  remainder  of 
the  world.  The  soldiers  have  in  the  main  returned, 
and,  having  accomplished  our  righteous  purpose,  it 
was  vastly  more  easy  to  have  severed  our  involvement 
than  it  was  to  bring  the  boys  home  and  turn  to  the 
pursuits  of  peace  again.  The  people  of  this  republic 
were  not  concerned  with  governing  the  universe.  Their 
interests,  their  hearts,  their  hopes,  their  ambitions, 
their  weal  or  woe — all  of  these  are  in  the  United 
States  of  America.  We  wanted  nothing  abroad  but 
respect  for  our  just  rights,  and  that  we  mean  to  have, 
in  peace  or  war,  no  matter  who  threatens. 

It  would  have  been  so  easy,  if  our  commission  had 
thought  of  America  first,  to  have  said  to  the  allied 
powers,  "Look  here,  friends  and  allies — yes,  and  to 
enemies  as  well — we  came  over  and  helped  you  bring 
an  outlaw  to  terms,  because  he  trespassed  our  rights 
beyond  endurance.  He  is  humbled  now,  and  it  is 
yours  to  restore  order  and  make  a  just  and  abiding 
peace.  We  want  peace,  and  we  want  to  go  to  work 
and  replace  the  waste  of  war.  We  will  advise,  if  we 
can  and  you  wish  it,  but  we  are  asking  nothing,  and 


SAFEGUARDING  AMERICA  77 

we  will  go  back  home  and  see  to  our  own  affairs.  We 
do  not  mean  to  mix  in  again,  unless  some  bully  in 
making  a  row  infringes  our  rights  and  murders  our 
citizens  and  destroys  our  lawful  property.  In  that 
event  we  will  be  forced  to  come  back,  but  we  will  come 
more  promptly  the  next  time."  That  would  have  left 
a  good  impression,  and  we  would  have  been  at  peace, 
and  so  would  Europe,  months  ago. 

Mr.  President,  the  first  official  of  our  government 
is  touring  the  country  to  invite  the  people  of  the  re 
public,  the  great  mass  whose  heart  is  ever  right  in  ulti 
mate  decision,  to  the  support  of  this  untouchable  and 
unamendable  and  supposedly  sacred  document.  He 
visited  the  capital  of  the  state  which  I  have  the  honor 
to  represent,  and  was  received  with  the  respect  be 
coming  his  great  office,  and  was  applauded,  as  often 
happens  to  appealing  speech,  of  which  he  is  the  master. 
He  has  spoken  and  is  speaking  elsewhere,  and  the 
people  of  our  state  are  reading,  in  common  with  the 
reading  people  of  America.  I  am  not  finding  fault 
with  the  tour,  even  if  it  is  not  wholly  purposed  to 
promote  the  league  covenant.  One  may  not  assume 
that  it  involves  a  feeling  of  the  political  pulse  of  the 
country,  but  if  it  is,  if  it  is  to  test  popular  feeling  about 
putting  the  presidency  permanently  in  the  hands  of 
one  equipped  to  direct  the  world  aright  and  at  the 
same  time  merge  this  republic  in  a  supergovernment 
of  the  world,  my  partisan  prejudices  would  be  rejoic 
ing.  But  the  president  told  the  reverent  people  of 
Ohio  that  he  had  only  to  report  to  them — in  a  broad 
sense,  the  people — and  it  so  happens  that  I,  too,  as 
insignificant  as  my  position  is,  relatively,  have  to  report 


78  REDEDICATING  AMERICA 

to  the  same  people,  and  I  want  them  to  have  not  only 
the  truth  but  all  the  truth;  not  only  fine  generalities 
but  illuminating  details. 

MANY  PEOPLES   NOT   HEARD 

Mr.  President,  the  treaty  is  being  expounded  by  its 
chief  author  to  the  people  with  vastly  more  freedom 
of  utterance  than  this  body  has  known,  notwithstand 
ing  our  solemn  responsibility  in  making  it  a  binding 
covenant  on  the  part  of  this  republic.  Perhaps  it  does 
not  matter,  because  we  have  before  us  the  treaty  itself, 
and  we  know  what  it  says,  though  we  do  not  have 
all  the  collateral  covenants  and  do  not  know  all  to 
which  we  are  pledged  or  to  what  ratification  commits 
us.  Yet  we  have  had  the  advantage,  or  disadvantage, 
if  you  prefer,  of  hearing  also  from  others  of  the  peace 
commission,  from  experts  who  drafted  many  of  its 
articles,  and  alas,  we  have  heard  from  many  who 
spoke  for  those  who  pleaded  for  their  rights  at  Paris 
and  who  declared  they  were  not  heard,  no  matter  what 
is  said  now  about  this  being  the  first  consecration  of 
international  conscience  to  the  rights  of  helpless  peoples 
and  small  nations. 

Let  me  digress  for  a  moment  to  suggest  some  of 
my  own  impressions  gathered  during  the  hearings 
granted  to  the  American  representatives  of  the  as 
piring  peoples  of  Europe  and  Asia  and  Egypt,  whose 
aspirations  and  long-deferred  hopes  of  liberty  and 
nationality  are  alleged  to  have  been  safeguarded  in 
this  supercreation  of  humanity.  It  was  futile,  of 
course,  for  a  Senate  committee  to  assume  to  answer 
prayers  or  comply  with  protest,  for  our  function  is  not 


SAFEGUARDING  AMERICA"  79 

one  of  negotiation.  However,  there  were  citizens  cry 
ing  to  be  heard,  after  a  denial  at  the  fount  of  justice 
in  Europe,  and  we  listened.  They  begged  amendment 
or  rejection  to  save  their  liberties  or  to  preserve  their 
nationalities  or  to  maintain  their  homogeneous  peoples. 
Spokesmen  for  China  cried  out  against  the  rape  of  the 
first  great  democracy  of  the  Orient,  and  the  plea  was 
eloquent  with  recited  sacrifices  and  noble  assistance 
in  the  winning  of  the  war.  We  uttered  our  chagrin 
that  the  spokesmen  for  the  American  conscience — aye, 
for  the  "conscience  of  civilization" — had  sanctioned 
the  confessed  immorality  of  the  Shantung  award  to 
satisfy  a  secret  covenant  against  which  we  righteously 
proclaimed,  and  we  did  all  we  can  do  to  right  the 
wrong. 

We  heard  the  Americans  speaking  for  their  kinsmen 
of  Greece,  our  allies  in  war,  protesting  the  award  of 
Thrace  and  its  Greek  peoples  to  Bulgaria  who  fought 
for  German  domination.  We  listened  to  those  who 
were  Croats  or  Slovenes  or  Serbs  utter  their  despair 
over  "the  rectifications  of  history"  under  territorial 
awards  arrived  at  for  Jugo-Slavia,  and  Americans  of 
Italian  origin  or  ancestry  presented  the  appeals  of 
Italians  for  unsevered  relationship  from  the  mother 
land.  More,  Americans  who  originated  in  Egypt, 
with  its  traditions  and  ancient  civilization,  begged  that 
we  shall  not  sanction  their  transfer  from  Turkey  and 
Germany  to  Great  Britain,  but  save  them  their  in 
herited  freedom  and  their  right  to  becoming  aspira 
tions.  Hungarians  prayed  for  restored  enfranchise 
ment  amid  the  racial  inspiration  of  the  Magyars ;  and 
the  irrepressible  advocates  of  Irish  freedom  made  the 


80  REDEDICATING  AMERICA 

plea  before  the  Senate  Committee  which  could  not  be 
heard  at  Paris.  I  have  not  named  them  all,  but  enough 
to  reveal  the  utter  futility,  the  hopeless  impracticability 
of  this  republic  attempting  to  right  the  cumulative 
wrongs  of  history  and  satisfy  the  perfectly  natural 
ambitions  and  aspirations  of  races  and  peoples.  One 
can  not  wave  the  wand  of  democracy,  even  of  exces 
sively  proclaimed  American  democracy,  and  do  for 
Poland  in  a  day  or  a  year  or  a  generation  what  cen 
turies  of  sacrifice  and  warfare  and  self-determination 
have  not  done. 

AVENUE  TO  UNENDING  WAR 

Does  any  thinking  man  stop  to  measure  the  colossal 
and  endless  involvement  before  which  the  sublimest 
unselfishness  and  most  confident  altruism  must  falter  ? 
Contemplate  for  a  moment  only  the  mandatory  for 
Armenia.  It  is  very  appealing  to  portray  the  woes, 
the  outrages,  the  massacres,  the  awakening  hopes  of 
Armenia,  and  visualize  the  doubts  and  distresses  and 
sacrificed  lives  while  "the  Senate  waits."  I  know  the 
appeal  that  touches  the  heart  of  Christian  America 
in  its  concern  and  sympathy  for  Armenia.  It  easily 
may  be  made  to  seem  as  if  the  sympathetic  Son  of  God 
had  turned  to  the  omnipotent  Father  to  send  this 
twentieth-century  defender  of  the  New  Testament 
to  succor  those  stricken  believers  in  the  great  Trinity. 
But  the  big,  warning  truth  is  little  proclaimed.  Our 
armies — sons  of  this  republic,  the  youths  from  Ameri 
can  homes — are  wanted  there.  Armenia  calls  and 
Great  Britain  is  urging,  insisting.  A  hundred  thou 
sand  «oldien  arc  needed.  More  American  toldieri  for 


SAFEGUARDING  AMERICA  81 

Armenia  than  we  heretofore  maintained  under  the 
flag  in  any  of  the  years  of  peace.  Answer  the  call, 
and  we  station  this  American  army  at  the  gateway 
between  Orient  and  Occident,  to  become  involved  in 
every  conflict  in  the  Old  World,  and  our  splendid  isola 
tion  becomes  a  memory  and  our  boasted  peace  a  mock 
ery.  This  is  not  the  way  to  peace.  This  is  the  avenue 
to  unending  war. 

Mr.  President,  I  am  not  insensible  to  the  sufferings 
of  Armenia,  nor  am  I  deaf  to  the  wails  forced  by  the 
cruelties  of  barbarity  wherever  our  ideals  of  civiliza 
tion  are  not  maintained.  But  I  am  thinking  of  America 
first.  Safety,  as  well  as  charity,  begins  at  home.  Self 
ishness?  No.  It  is  self-preservation.  Measureless 
as  our  resources  are,  large  as  our  man  power  is,  and 
chivalrous  as  our  purposes  may  be,  we  are  not  strong 
enough  to  assume  sponsorship  for  all  the  oppressed  of 
the  world.  No  people,  no  nation  is  strong  enough 
for  such  a  supreme  responsibility.  We  in  America 
have  the  republic  to  preserve.  And  in  this  very  pro 
gram  of  meddlesome  assumption,  in  some  instances 
bordering  on  presumption,  we  are  endangering  our 
own  republic.  It  is  not  alone  the  abandonment  of 
security,  so  much  warned  against  by  the  founding 
fathers,  which  suggests  alarm.  I  am  thinking  of  di 
vided  citizenship  at  home  that  must  attend  our  at 
tempted  reorganization  of  the  world. 

Turn  back  for  a  moment  to  the  appealing  citizens 
who  appeared  before  the  Foreign  Relations  Committee 
in  prayer  or  protest.  They  fairly  represented  a  large 
proportion  of  American  citizenship.  We  have  no  racial 
entity  in  this  republic.  >Ve  are  polyglot  of  tongue, 


82  REDEDICATING  AMERICA     • 

which  generations  will  not  wholly  change.  The  in 
volvement  in  the  world  war  found  us  divided  in  spirit. 
The  founding  fathers  were  eager  to  share  their  free 
dom  and  speed  development  of  our  incalculable  re 
sources,  and  they  asked  the  world  to  come,  and  the 
world  did  come — the  oppressed,  the  adventurous,  the 
industrious;  but  there  was  neglected  consecration  of 
citizenship. 

TO  PRESERVE  AMERICANISM 

In  the  travail  of  war  the  American  soul  was  born, 
and  we  have  preached  and  practised  Americanization 
ever  since,  and  we  mean  to  go  on  and  make  this  repub 
lic  American  in  fact  as  well  as  in  name.  No  republic 
can  endure  half  loyal  and  half  disloyal ;  no  citizenship 
is  of  permanent  value  whose  heart  is  not  in  America. 
I  had  thought  the  war  worth  all  it  cost,  in  spite  of  its 
unutterable  expenditure  in  lives  and  treasure,  to  have 
found  ourselves.  It  was  an  inspiration  to  find  the 
adopted  sons  of  the  republic  consecrated  to  the  com 
mon  cause.  Yet,  sirs,  the  unhappy  aftermath  is  resur 
recting  the  old  lines  of  divided  citizenship.  We  are 
restoring  hyphenism  under  internationalism. 

One  can  not  complain  at  the  revealment,  but  I  am 
lamenting  the  cause.  It  is  all  directly  traceable  to  our 
assumption  of  world  sponsorship.  One  can  little  blame 
the  American  of  Italian  origin  for  being  concerned 
about  the  affairs  of  those  bound  by  ties  of  blood, 
or  find  fault  with  the  American  of  Greek  origin  for 
deep  feelings  about  the  fate  of  those  of  kin  in  Thrace, 
or  criticize  the  American  son  of  the  old  sod  who  finds 
in  his  heart  an  undying  echo  of  the  Irish  cry  for  free- 


SAFEGUARDING  AMERICA  83 

dom.  Instead  of  effacing  the  native  interest,  instead 
of  merging  the  inherited  soul  in  exclusive  American 
ism,  we  have  already  embarked  on  a  program  that 
awakens  every  racial  pride,  every  Old-World  prejudice, 
every  inherited  aspiration,  and  are  rending  the  con 
cord  of  American  spirit  which  once  promised  to  be 
the  great  compensation  for  all  our  sacrifices.  This  is 
no  idle  fancy.  Justice,  only  simple  justice,  and  liberty, 
God's  own  bequest  of  liberty,  were  on  every  lip,  and 
there  was  no  perfunctory  utterances  among  those  who 
appealed  to  the  Senate  through  our  committee.  There 
was  deep  feeling  no  words  could  belie  and  that  sin 
cerity  for  which  men  die,  and  as  I  listened  I  deplored 
the  eloquence  of  speech  unperformed,  which  leads 
hope  to  flame  high,  then  die  in  disappointment.  And, 
sirs,  I  doubly  deplored  the  proposals  and  pretenses 
that  open  anew  the  cleavage  in  the  consecration  of  our 
adopted  American  citizenship. 

WHY  AMERICA  ENTERED  WAR 

Senators,  it  is  a  great  thing  to  be  eloquent  and  per 
suasive  in  speech,  but  it  is  also  a  very  dangerous  thing. 
I  mean  to  be  quite  as  respectful  as  I  am  sincere  when 
I  say  that  our  present  involvement  and  our  further 
entanglement  and  most  of  the  world's  restlessness 
and  revolution  and  threatened  revolution  are  largely 
traceable  to  pre-war  utterances  and  war-time  pro 
nouncements.  Once  before  in  this  chamber  I  chal 
lenged  some  of  the  statements  as  to  why  we  went  to 
war.  I  speak  of  it  again  now,  because  the  president 
told  the  people  of  my  state  that  our  soldiers  were 
"drafted  for  the  very  purpose  of  ending  war,"  and 


84  REDEDICATING  AMERICA 

this  league  as  negotiated  is  the  only  thing  that  will 
do  it.  It  does  not  seem  to  have  occurred  to  any  one 
that  we  might  appeal  to  the  pride  of  the  peoples  of 
the  earth.  Still  more  recently  a  very  eminent  authority 
has  proclaimed  all  opponents  of  the  covenant  as  "con 
temptible  quitters  if  they  do  not  see  the  game  through." 
Mr.  President,  I  turned  to  the  Record  of  Congress 
for  that  fateful  6th  of  April,  1917,  when  this  body 
voted  the  declaration  of  war  against  Germany.  It 
had  occurred  to  me  that  perhaps  the  resolution  itself 
would  give  the  official  reason  for  going  to  war,  as 
Congress  would  prefer  history  to  record  it.  I  turned 
to  the  preamble  to  the  official  declaration,  and  there 
is  given  the  reason  in  the  simplest  language  that  words 
can  express : 

"Whereas  the  Imperial  German  Government  has 
committed  repeated  acts  of  war  against  the  Govern 
ment  and  the  people  of  the  United  States  of  America, 
therefore  be  it  resolved/' 

And  so  forth. 

There  is  the  whole  story.  Nothing  there  especially 
proclaiming  democracy  or  humanity,  because  both 
had  been  fighting,  sacrificing,  and  dying  for  more  than 
two  and  a  half  years  and  we  neither  saw  nor  heard. 

PROCLAMATION  OF  NEUTRALITY  RECALLED 

Let  me  clarify  by  further  quotation  from  the  presi 
dent.  I  omit  the  official  proclamation  of  neutrality  in 
August  of  1914,  but  want  to  reveal  the  conscience  of 
America  as  spoken  by  him  in  the  following  January, 
when  Belgium  was  devastated  and  France  was  bleed- 


SAFEGUARDING  AMERICA  85 

ing,  and  Britain  was  sacrificing  her  volunteer  defend 
ers.  I  quote  from  a  speech  made  at  Indianapolis, 
scene  of  the  more  recent  admonition  to  "put  up  or  shut 
up."  Search  the  quotation  for  democracy,  humanity, 
"the  end  of  all  war,"  or  "the  rectified  wrongs  of 
history": 

"Only  America  at  peace!  Among  all  the  great 
powers  of  the  world  only  America  saving  her  power 
for  her  own  people.  Do  you  not  think  it  likely  that 
the  world  will  some  time  turn  to  America  and  say, 
'You  were  right  and  we  were  wrong.  You  kept  your 
head  when  we  lost  ours.' " — The  President,  Indian 
apolis,  January  8,  1915. 

More  than  three  months  passed,  and  still  the  con 
science  of  the  republic  was  unchanged.  I  quote  from 
the  New  York  speech  of  the  chief  executive,  delivered 
on  April  20, 1915: 

"I  am  interested  in  neutrality  because  there  is  some 
thing  so  much  greater  to  do  than  fight ;  there  is  a  dis 
tinction  waiting  for  this  nation  that  no  nation  ever  got. 
That  is  the  distinction  of  absolute  self-control  and  self- 
mastery." 

Let  us  as  an  act  of  courtesy,  pass  the  Philadelphia 
address,  delivered  three  days  after  the  Lusitania  sink 
ing,  when  humanity's  cry  was  muffled  by  the  ocean's 
depths  and  democracy  was  too  shocked  to  speak.  In 
December  we  still  "stood  apart,  studiously  neutral — it 
was  our  manifest  duty."  Thus  the  president  spoke. 
But  it  is  especially  interesting  to  quote  from  an  address 
delivered  at  Des  Moines,  Iowa,  on  February  1,  1916, 


86  REDEDICATING  AMERICA 

at  the  same  place  where  the  "quitters"  were  so  recently 
gibbeted : 

"There  are  actually  men  in  America  who  are  preach 
ing  war,  who  are  preaching  the  duty  of  the  United 
States  to  do  what  it  never  would  before — seek  en 
tanglements  in  the  controversies  which  have  arisen 
on  the  other  side  of  the  water — abandon  its  habitual 
and  traditional  policy  and  deliberately  engage  in  the 
conflict  which  is  engulfing  the  rest  of  the  world.  I  do 
not  know  what  the  standards  of  citizenship  of  these 
gentlemen  may  be.  I  only  know  that  I  for  one  can 
not  subscribe  to  those  standards." 

It  was  an  unspeakable  thing  to  abandon  our  "habitual 
and  traditional  policy"  and  seek  entanglements  in  Old- 
World  controversies  then,  when  actual  conflict  was 
threatening  our  very  safety,  but  "only  the  selfishness 
or  ignorance  or  a  spirit  of  Bolshevism"  is  debating  it 
now.  Surely  the  American  people  will  not  compare 
jvithout  understanding. 

FORCED  TO  DECLARE  WAR 

We  went  to  war  precisely  for  the  reason  uttered  in 
the  preamble  which  I  quoted,  forced  to  action  by  the 
conscience  and  self-respect  of  the  American  people. 
Perhaps  the  people  were  greater  than  their  govern 
ment  in  conscience  and  self-respect,  but  they  were  not 
great  enough  to  overcome  the  costly  months  of  delay. 
But  once  we  were  committed  it  was  unalterable. 
"Quitters"  in  Congress?  They  were  trampled  deep 
beneath  the  forward  march.  Congress  submerged 
Itself,  abdicated,  to  give  limitless  power  to  the  com- 


SAFEGUARDING  AMERICA '  87 

mander  in  chief.  No  finer  surrender  of  power  is 
recorded  in  history,  no  lawful  dictatorship  offers  paral 
lel  in  the  story  of  free  government.  I  am  not  com 
plaining,  I  am  commending !  It  was  necessary  to  speed 
the  winning. 

"Quitters"  among  the  people?  Not  one  among  the 
millions  of  patriotic  Americans.  We  pledged  all  we 
had,  our  wealth,  our  lives,  our  sacred  honor.  It  was 
the  committal  unalterable.  Germany  was  making  war 
on  us,  and  had  to  be  brought  to  terms.  Let  me  record 
it  for  all  time — the  unquitting  resolution  of  these 
United  States.  Suppose  poor,  weak  but  proud  and 
brave  Serbia  had  been  trampled  to  earth  and  utterly 
destroyed;  suppose  brave  heroic  Belgium  had  been 
driven  wholly  into  the  sea  and  none  but  her  enslaved 
people  remained  to  cherish  the  story  of  her  opening 
guns  of  defense ;  suppose  Italy,  resolute  and  courage 
ous,  in  spite  of  her  difficulties,  had  been  brought  to 
terms ;  suppose  Russia  in  her  betrayal  had  joined  her 
German  masters  and  sought  to  destroy  the  world's 
civilization  as  she  did  her  own ;  suppose  noble,  heroic, 
self-sacrificing,  respiritualized  France  had  been  brought 
to  her  knees,  wounded  unto  death ;  suppose  determined, 
fearless  and  powerful  Great  Britain  had  been  starved 
and  brought  to  terms  as  the  Central  Powers  had 
planned;  suppose  all  these  disasters  had  attended, 
then,  even  then,  this  republic  would  have  gone  on  and 
on  and  on  until  Germany  was  brought  to  terms,  be 
cause  without  established  American  rights  there  could 
be  no  American  nation,  and  we  had  rather  perish  than 
fail  to  maintain  them. 


88  REDEDICATING  AMERICA 


OUR  TASK  COMPLETED 

No,  Senators,  there  were  no  "quitters"  after  the 
task  was  once  assumed.  We  finished  in  triumph.  An 
arrogant,  offending  military  Germany  is  no  more. 
That  job  was  well  done.  But  after  it  was  done,  having 
no  concern  for  Europe's  affairs,  seeking  nothing  of 
territory,  nothing  of  reparation — and  getting  none, 
let  it  be  said — the  sons  of  the  republic  wanted  to 
come  home,  and  the  people  of  the  United  States 
wanted  them  home,  and  it  was  in  the  great  heart  of  the 
republic  to  turn  to  the  restoration,  reestablish  our  nor 
mal  pursuits,  and  make  the  earliest  recovery  possible 
from  the  ravages  and  extravagances  and  wastes  and 
sorrows  of  war. 

That  is  not  a  "quitter's"  program.  That  was  dis 
tinctly  and  becomingly  the  American  policy,  the  wish 
of  highest  American  devotion.  We  had  never  entered 
any  alliances.  The  treaty  speaks  again  and  again 
of  the  "principal  allied  and  associated  powers."  We 
were  the  "associated  power,"  because  when  Germany 
committed  her  acts  of  war  against  us,  we  joined  the 
warfare  of  the  Allies  against  her  and  made  common 
cause  against  the  common  enemy.  We  had  no  com 
pacts,  no  covenants,  no  secret  arrangements.  Alas! 
We  did  not  even  know  the  secret  agreements  the  Allies 
had.  It  would  have  little  mattered,  perhaps,  had  we 
not  proclaimed  overmuch  against  secret  agreements 
and  proposed  a  new  birth  for  all  the  world. 

We  did  cooperate.  We  fought  under  French  com 
mand,  and  our  soldiers  were  comrades  to  French, 
to  Italian,  to  Belgian,  and  to  British,  because  we  were 


SAFEGUARDING  AMERICA  89 

battling  for  the  defeat  of  a  common  enemy.  We  paid 
our  own  way  to  the  last  farthing.  We  gave  of  treasure 
without  reckoning,  and  Americans  died  not  as  allies 
but  as  Americans.  That  was  the  one  supreme  con 
solation  in  every  hero's  last  living  thought.  Crusaders, 
seeking  a  human  relationship  that  God  Himself  hath 
not  wrought?  No!  They  were  heroic  defenders  of 
these  United  States. 

NOT  COMMITTED  TO  LEAGUE 

It  may  be  recorded,  Senators,  that  America  finished 
the  task  for  which  her  sons  were  sent  to  Europe,  and 
the  unfinished  work  which  is  now  alleged  is  an  after 
thought,  to  which  America  was  never  committed,  about 
which  our  people  were  never  consulted,  concerning 
which  our  very  peace  commissioners  were  not  advised. 
No  one  questions  the  lofty  aims  of  President  Wilson, 
no  one  would  hinder  consistent  endeavor  for  all  desir 
able  attainment.  No  one  opposes  because  the  Ameri 
can  participation  is  exclusively  Wilsonian,  or  because 
the  covenant  is  of  British  conception.  It  is  the  cov 
enant  itself  and  the  effect  of  our  committal  which 
calls  for  consideration. 

It  is  appropriate,  however,  to  dispel  some  of  the 
illusions  about  it  being  the  expressed  hope  and  guaran 
teed  security  of  small  nations  and  struggling  peoples. 
They  had  no  voice  in  its  making.  Their  protests  were 
stifled  at  the  moment  of  its  adoption.  Eyewitnesses  to 
the  submission  of  this  super-concept  to  the  peace  com 
missioners  testify  that  this  "covenant  is  a  perversion 
of  what  men  who  really  favored  a  league  of  nations 
intended  and  wished  for."  I  quote  Mr.  Frank  P. 


90  REDEDICATING  AMERICA 

Walsh,  once  its  ardent  supporter,  now  protesting  its 
adoption.  When  Mr.  Walsh  appeared  before  our 
committee  he  was  asked  if  the  assembled  peace  com 
missioners,  representing  nations,  great  or  small,  ex 
pressed  any  surprise  when  the  covenant  was  presented. 
Mr.  Walsh  replied: 

"Oh,  it  was  very  marked.  They  jumped  up  all  over 
the  place  to  make  protests.  Man  after  man  got  up. 
You  know  there  was  an  awful  censorship  upon  this 
whole  business." 

AUTOCRACY  OF  PEACE 

There  was  no  debate.  It  was  the  offering  of  tKe 
big  four,  the  autocracy  of  peace,  not  submitted  to  de 
bate  by  the  commissioners  signing,  and  is  now  too 
sacred  for  modification  by  this  body  which  must  speak 
for  America.  I  believe  it  designed  to  establish  super- 
government,  and  no  explanation  nor  apology  has  al 
tered  my  opinion.  It  may  consider  any  questions  affect 
ing  the  affairs  of  the  world,  and  the  council's  decision 
is  a  binding  thing,  else  language  has  no  dependable 
meaning.  Supergovernment  was  the  great  dream, 
and  the  very  essentials  of  supergovernment  were  in 
corporated.  If  one  believes  in  surrendered  nationality, 
if  one  prefers  world  citizenship  to  American  citizen 
ship,  which  I  delight  to  boast,  the  covenant  is  ideal. 
But  it  ends  democracy  instead  of  promoting  it,  and 
it  means  international  autocracy  for  all  who  accept  it 
without  specific  reservations. 

The  authority,  as  written,  is  limitless.  Any  national 
sovereignty  may  be  invaded.  The  authority  which  can 
prevent  war  can  make  it,  and  it  will.  The  president 


SAFEGUARDING  AMERICA  91 

has  said  the  council  may  even  consider  internal  con 
troversies  which  threaten  world  peace,  and  he  holds 
out  the  promise  that  the  league  will  correct  the  in 
justices  of  the  peace  commission  which  created  it. 
If  that  does  not  mean  the  assumption  of  power  to 
extend  to  limitless  authority,  the  promise  is  not  sincere. 
On  the  other  hand,  it  means  abandoned  self-determi 
nation  for  every  member  nation,  and  unending  inter 
ference  and  invited  conflict  with  nations  outside  the 
autocratic  circle. 

NATIONALITY   SACRIFICED 

No  one  has  made  the  venture  to  estimate  our  possible 
obligations.  Only  last  Saturday  the  cable  told  us  how 
a  member  of  the  French  chamber  of  deputies  had  ad 
vocated  that  the  league  of  nations  should  assume  a 
proportion  of  the  French  war  debt.  It  does  not  matter 
that  we  renounced  all  reparation  ourselves,  it  does  not 
matter  that  we  expended  without  measure,  it  neverthe 
less  appears  that  in  the  new  idealism  there  is  a  "touch" 
of  the  practical.  Europe  is  calling  for  our  soldiers  and 
we  are  sending,  though  our  task  was  ended  last  No 
vember.  Europe  wants  our  sponsorship,  to  enforce 
the  new  alignments,  and  wants  our  treasure  to  lighten 
her  own  burdens.  Involvement  piles  upon  involve 
ment  and  responsibility  upon  responsibility,  until  inde 
pendence  of  action  fades  into  precious  memory  and 
nationality  becomes  a  lost  inheritance. 

Senators,  no  one  in  all  the  land  has  greater  pride 
than  I  feel  in  having  this  nation  and  our  people  exert 
a  becoming  influence  on  the  progressive  march  of  civ 
ilization.  We  can  not  hope  to  remain  utterly  aloof, 


92  REDEDICATING  AMERICA 

and  would  not  choose  a  complete  isolation  if  such  at 
course  were  possible.  We  are  the  exemplars  of  rep 
resentative  democracy,  and  we  have  seemingly  devel 
oped  the  most  dependable  popular  government  in  the 
world.  We  know  that  no  pure  democracy  ever  sur 
vived,  and  we  know  that  republics  have  failed  before. 
We  ought  and  do  realize  that  the  fundamentals  of  the 
United  States  are  not  of  new  discovery,  and  we  are 
yet  but  a  child  among  the  nations  in  point  of  years, 
though  our  achievement  would  glorify  centuries  of  de 
velopment.  My  point  is  that  civilization  is  not  ex 
clusively  ours,  or  justice  solely  an  American  conception, 
or  righteousness  wholly  a  New- World  development. 
We  are  committed  to  them  all,  and  we  are  the  best 
exemplars  of  unselfishness  in  the  world. 

AMERICAN  CONSCIENCE  FIXES  OBLIGATION 

Our  merits  are  appraised  and  our  weaknesses  are 
known.  We  have  power  and  wealth  and  conscience; 
we  do  have  lofty  sentiments  and  high  ideals.  We 
would  have  ours  the  best  example  of  national  right 
eousness  in  all  the  world,  and  influence  the  world  ac 
cording  to  the  confidence  and  respect  we  command. 
We  do  not  need  Europe  or  Asia  to  define  our  moral 
obligations,  we  do  not  need  the  Old  World  to  quicken 
the  American  conscience.  The  obligations  to  civiliza 
tion  are  not  designated  by  men,  they  are  written  by 
the  hand  of  divinity  which  records  the  onward  march. 
No  league,  no  council  of  any  league,  no  assembly  of 
any  league  can  ever  appeal  to  the  American  conscience 
as  will  the  voice  of  intelligent  and  deliberate  public 


SAFEGUARDING  AMERICA  93 

opini@n.    Aye,  and  if  we  proclaim  democracy  to  the 
world,  we  must  not  crush  it  at  its  hearthstone. 

Must  we  have  this  particular  covenant  to  save  us 
from  European  broils  and  Old-World  conflicts,  as  the 
president  asserts?  In  a  hundred  years  of  American 
development  and  growing  influence  no  war  involved 
us,  though  one  hundred  and  twenty-six  wars  are  re 
corded  in  that  period.  We  were  not  involved  in  1898 ; 
we  went  because  conscience  was  impelling.  I  quite 
agree  that  Germany  might  have  preferred  to  respect 
our  rights  than  to  involve  us  in  the  late  world  war  if 
she  had  believed  we  would  answer  affront  with  armed 
defense,  but  the  president  was  too  busy  then  keeping 
us  out  of  war  to  utter  a  vigorous  American  warning. 
Germany  held  us  in  a  contempt  which  one  militant 
American  voice  in  authority  might  have  dissolved,  but 
we  delayed  until  two  million  fighting  sons  of  the  re 
public  shot  Germany  to  respectful  understanding. 

RESPECT  FOR  AMERICAN   RIGHTS 

We  have  settled  it  for  all  time,  league  or  no  league^ 
peace  or  no  peace,  war  or  no  war,  the  rights  of  this  na 
tion  and  the  rights  of  our  citizens  must  and  will  be 
respected  at  home  or  abroad,  on  land  or  sea,  every 
where  an  American  may  go  on  a  lawful  and  righteous 
mission  under  the  shining  sun.  To  adopt  any  other 
policy,  to  call  an  international  council  to  destroy  the 
American  spirit,  would  rend  the  life  of  the  republic. 
It  may  be  very  old-fashioned,  sirs,  it  may  be  reaction 
ary,  it  may  be  shocking  to  pacifist  and  dreamer  alike, 
but  I  choose  for  our  own  people,  a  hundred  millions  or 


94  REDEDICATING  AMERICA 

more,  the  right  to  search  the  American  conscience  and 
prescribe  our  own  obligations  to  ourselves  and  the 
world's  civilization. 

Let  us  pause  for  a  moment  to  note  the  tendency  of 
the  propagandists  of  the  hour  and  the  proponents  of 
the  league.  There  is  a  drive  to  nationalize  industry, 
to  denationalize  governments,  and  internationalize  the 
world.  All  are  contrary  to  everything  that  made  us 
what  we  are,  all  stamp  failure  on  all  we  have  wrought, 
and  propose  paralysis  instead  of  the  virile  activity 
which  sped  us  on  to  achievement. 

SIGNIFICANCE   OF   NATIONALISM 

Nationalism  was  the  vital  force  that  turned  the 
dearly  wrought  freedom  of  the  republic  to  a  living, 
impelling  power.  Nationalism  inspired,  assured,  up- 
builded.  In  nationalism  was  centered  all  the  hopes,  all 
the  confidence,  all  the  aspirations  of  a  developing  peo 
ple.  Nationalism  has  turned  the  retreating  processions 
of  the  earth  to  the  onward  march  to  accomplishment, 
and  has  been  the  very  shield  of  democracy  wherever 
its  banners  were  unfurled.  Why,  Senators,  nationality 
was  the  hope  of  every  appealing  delegation  which  came 
to  our  committee  in  the  name  of  democracy.  It  was 
nationality  that  conceived  the  emergence  of  new  na 
tions  and  the  revival  of  old  ones  out  of  the  ashes  of 
consuming  warfare.  Nationality  is  the  call  of  the 
heart  of  liberated  peoples,  and  the  dream  of  those  to 
whom  freedom  becomes  an  undying  cause.  It  was  the 
guiding  light,  the  song,  the  prayer,  the  consummation 
for  our  own  people,  although  we  were  never  assured 


SAFEGUARDING  AMERICA  95 

indissoluble  union  until  the  Civil  War  was  fought. 
Can  any  red-blooded  American  consent  now,  when  we 
have  come  to  understand  its  priceless  value,  to  merge 
our  nationality  into  internationality,  merely  because 
brotherhood  and  fraternity  and  fellowship  and  peace 
are  soothing  and  appealing  terms  ? 

Oh,  sirs,  I  know  it  is  denied.    I  can  understand  the 
indignant  denial.    I  will  not  challenge  its  sincerity.   It 
would  be  very  disheartening  to  believe  that  any  Amer 
ican  in  official  position,  or  who  donned  the  garb  of  an 
armed   defender,   knowingly   assents   to   surrendered 
nationality.     I  may  be  wrong,  but  I  elect  to  take  no 
chances.    If  this  league  as  negotiated  can  do  all  that  its 
proponents  have  promised,  it  can  tighten  its  grip  on 
the  destiny  of  nations  and  make  our  inspiring  nation 
ality  only  a  memory.    Extravagant  utterance?    Well, 
establish  the  council  without  strong  reservations  pro 
tecting  our  freedom  of  action,  and  establish  the  as 
sembly  with  its  powers  unhindered  by  reservations, 
and  no  man  can  foresee  the  exercise  of  authority  by 
the  league  of  great  powers,  against  whom  small  nations 
will  protest  in  vain.     Suppose  it  proves  all  that  is 
claimed   in   discouraging  war,   which  many  honestly 
doubt.    Let  me  say  in  passing  that  an  able  and  experi 
enced  officer  of  the  army,  stalwart  in  his  Americanism 
and  his  love  of  country,  whose  devotion  has  been 
proven  again  and  again,  and  who  not  only  fought  in 
the  late  war  but  is  a  student  of  European  affairs,  said 
to  me  not  a  month  ago :  "Senator,  as  a  military  man,  I 
ought  to  favor  this  league  because  it  means  war  after 
war  and  constant  activity  in  the  work  for  which  I  am 


&  REDEDICATING  AMERICA 

trained.  But  I  pray  in  my  American  heart  you  will 
never  commit  us  to  it,  because  I  can  see  involvements 
and  regrets  unending." 

AMERICAN  SAFETY  AT  STAKE 

But  suppose  it  makes  for  the  promised  peace,  I  still 
prefer,  and  the  great  majority  of  Americans  still  pre 
fer,  to  be  the  keepers  of  our  national  conscience  and 
let  Europe  pass  upon  its  moral  obligations  while  we 
righteously  meet  our  own. 

Only  the  other  day  the  president  called  upon  the  op 
ponents  of  this  league  to  "Put  up  or  shut  up."  Among 
opponents  he  classes  reservationists  as  well  as  those 
who  would  destroy  it  all.  A  good  many  people  have 
been  "putting  up"  in  this  country.  Perhaps  they  have 
a  right  to  speak.  But  in  modified  terms  the  president 
is  uttering  that  very  familiar  demand,  "If  you  won't 
have  this,  what  have  you  to  offer?"  It  is  the  well- 
known  call  for  constructive  proposals  in  place  of  ob 
structive  discussion.  There  are  times  when  obstruction 
justifies  the  call  for  something  constructive.  But  this 
situation,  Senators,  calls  for  action  preservative.  When 
some  one  proposes  an  impossible  thing  it  is  not  fit  chal 
lenge  to  demand  a  constructive  substitute.  The  pres 
ervation  of  American  safety  is  the  main  thing.  A  safe 
guarded  inheritance  is  infinitely  better  than  the  wasted 
riches  of  nationality. 

Nobody  is  going  to  "shut  up."  Democracy  does  not 
demand  such  a  surrender.  Men  in  this  body  have  a 
sworn  duty  to  perform,  no  less  important  to  ratifica 
tion  than  presidential  authority  is  to  negotiation.  A 
senator  may  be  as  jealous  of  his  constitutional  duty 


SAFEGUARDING  AMERICA  97 

as  the  president  is  jealous  of  an  international  con 
coction,  especially  if  we  cling  to  the  substance  as  well 
as  the  form  of  representative  democracy.  The  dic 
tatorship  was  for  the  war  only,  and  does  not  abide  in 
the  aftermath. 

PATRIOTS  SAVE  AMERICA 

Members  of  this  body  are  not  insensible  to  the  criti 
cism  of  their  actions,  official  criticism,  and  the  com 
plaints  of  constituents.  There  are  expressions  of  ap 
proval,  too.  Men  have  not  been  blind  to  the  unusual 
mail  from  home ;  they  have  appraised  letters  inspired, 
letters  perfunctory,  letters  from  the  heart,  letters  urg 
ing  support,  letters  breathing  deep  alarm.  I  have 
heard  the  charge  of  partisanship  and  the  threat  of  de 
stroyed  party  and  the  prophecy  of  individual  political 
ignominy.  But  I  record  it  now,  because  it  ought  to  be 
recorded;  the  soul  of  this  discussion  is  splendidly  pa 
triotic.  It  is  not  confined  to  one  side  of  the  chamber 
nor  to  one  side  of  the  pending  issue.  I  yield  the  be 
lief  in  sincerity  even  to  those  who  do  not  grant  it. 
More,  the  radical,  the  unalterable  opponents  of  the 
league  and  the  treaty  have  rendered  a  real  service  to 
this  country.  I  do  not  agree  to  all  they  urge  in  oppo 
sition,  but  I  credit  them  with  the  awakening  of  Amer 
ica,  without  which  the  republic  might  have  been  un 
consciously  betrayed. 

To  what  conclusion  am  I  leading  ?  Speaking  for  my 
self  alone,  voicing  no  faction,  no  group,  no  party,  I 
do  not  see  how  any  senator  can  decide  upon  his  final 
vote  till  the  disputed  amendments  and  proposed  reser 
vations  shall  have  the  stamp  of  the  decision  of  a  Sen- 


98  REDEDICATING  AMERICA  ' 

ate  majority.  I  can  never  vote  to  ratify  without  safe 
guards.  I  am  not  yet  persuaded  to  cast  a  ratifying  vote 
without  amendments.  I  have  listened  to  the  commit 
tee's  earnest  discussions.  I  bear  witness  that  there 
was  no  fixed  program  of  action  in  advance.  I  have 
sought  to  retain  a  fairly  open  mind,  withholding  un 
alterable  utterance  in  the  face  of  the  charge  of  wab 
bling  indecision. 

RESERVATIONS  ARE   ESSENTIAL 

I  mean  to  vote  for  the  amendments  proposed  by  the 
committee.  They  ought  to  be  accepted.  If  the  presi 
dent  is  correct  in  declaring  the  proposed  reservations 
will  send  the  treaty  back,  then  amendments  will  not  un 
duly  delay.  Suppose  there  is  delay?  Civilized  peo 
ples  are  not  supposed  to  move  unthinkingly  in  creating 
the  surpassing  covenant  of  all  the  ages.  This  is  an 
epoch-making  treaty,  no  matter  what  its  terms  pre 
scribe. 

America  need  not  fear  the  ill-will  of  our  allied  cov 
enanters.  Their  need  for  cooperation  is  not  so  crit 
ical  as  when  the  German  armies  were  battering  the 
western  battle  fronts,  but  Europe  needs  us  infinitely 
more  than  we  need  Europe.  The  aftermath  is  little 
less  difficult  than  the  problems  of  war  itself.  We  can 
carry  the  banners  of  America  to  the  new  Elysium, 
even  though  we  have  to  furl  them  before  we  enter. 

RIGHTEOUSNESS  IS  GOAL1 

It  is  well  to  do  any  job  right.  It  is  imperative  to  do 
a  mighty  job  right,  especially  when  it  involves  the  fate 
of  all  civilization.  If  the  world  is  to  start  all  over,  it 


SAFEGUARDING  AMERICA  99 

fought  to  start  with  the  square  deal.  The  treaty  has  not 
written  it;  the  square  deal  was  reserved  for  informal 
promises  not  uttered  in  the  supreme  document. 
Though  we  performed  a  great  service  in  armed  battling 
for  a  preserved  civilization,  we  have  yet  a  greater 
service  to  render  to  the  same  civilization  by  making 
the  covenant  of  peace  everlastingly  righteous. 

All  fair  men  realize  the  embarrassment  incident  to 
the  Shantung  award.  Perhaps  we  can  not  change  it. 
No  one  believes  we  mean  to  go  to  war  to  restore  to 
China  what  Germany  looted  and  Japan  traded  for. 
But  we  need  not  be  a  party  to  an  international  im 
morality  that  challenges  our  every  utterance  about  lofty 
purposes  and  the  reign  of  justice.  I  want  it  recorded, 
for  all  the  world  to  read,  that  America  esteems  her 
unarmed  friend  no  less  than  she  respects  her  armed 
associate. 

If  reservations  are  to  send  the  German  treaty  and 
league  covenant  back,  we  ought  to  amend  fully,  we 
ought  to  write  into  the  text  the  things  which  America 
is  thinking.  There  has  been  inclination  to  yield  some 
points  rather  than  necessitate  prolonged  delay.  We 
now  know  there  are  to  be  reservations,  unmistakable 
reservations,  else  there  will  be  no  treaty.  They  must 
speak  in  clearest  terms.  The  covenant  is  unthinkable 
without  them.  These  reservations  must  be  strong  and 
unmistakable.  I  could  no  more  support  "mild  reser 
vations"  than  I  could  sanction  mild  Americanism. 
These  reservations  come  of  a  purpose  to  protect  Amer 
ica  first,  and  still  save  a  framework  on  which  to  build 
intelligent  cooperation.  These  reservations  come  of 
a  desire  to  offer  opportunity  for  a  clearing  house  for; 


100  REDEDICATING  AMERICA 

the  consciences  of  peoples.  These  reservations  declare 
that  we  hold  for  ourselves  the  right  to  maintain  our 
own  peace,  and  are  willing  to  encourage  Europe's 
effort  toward  the  great  desideratum.  But  in  these 
reservations  there  must  be  no  surrender  of  the  basic 
things  on  which  this  nation  was  builded  to  the  present- 
day  height  of  world  eminence. 

Without  the  amendments  we  shall  be  remiss  in  utter 
ing  the  conscience  of  the  republic ;  without  any  reser 
vations  we  shall  be  recreant  to  duty.  This  is  not  the 
universal  thought.  There  is  dispute  about  it  being  the 
majority  thought  of  the  American  millions,  but  I  be 
lieve  it  will  become  the  deliberate  judgment  of  Amer 
ica. 

MUST  PRESERVE  INHERITANCE 

If  such  a  course  delays  reconstruction,  let  recon 
struction  wait.  It  awaited  the  long  negotiation  at 
Paris,  it  waited  amid  barter,  it  can  await  correction 
where  the  blunder  was  made.  You  have  heard  the  call 
of  finance,  voicing  its  impatience.  Let  finance  recall 
that  fundamental  Americanism  transcends  its  impor 
tance  for  to-day  and  the  morrow,  too.  Industry  calls 
for  normal  conditions  of  formal  peace.  Let  industry 
remember  that  nationalism  is  its  fostering  influence, 
and  internationalism  means  to  merge  its  interests  with 
the  industries  of  the  world.  Momentous  achievements 
are  not  wrought  in  impatience. 

Out  of  the  ferment,  the  turmoil,  the  debts,  and  echo 
ing  sorrows ;  out  of  the  appalling  waste  and  far-reach 
ing  disorder;  out  of  the  threats  against  orderly 
government  and  the  assaults  on  our  present-day  civil- 


SAFEGUARDING  AMERICA  fCl 


ization,  I  think  I  can  see  the  opening  way  for  America. 
We  must  preserve  the  inheritance  and  hold  sensitive 
the  conscience  which  has  guided  our  national  life.  We 
must  cling  to  just  government  and  hold  to  intelligent 
and  deliberate  public  opinion  as  shield  and  buckler  to 
representative  democracy.  We  must  hold  to  civil  lib 
erty,  no  matter  who  assails  or  in  what  garb  he  appears, 
and  we  must  hold  equal  opportunity  and  the  reward 
of  merit  no  less  vital  to  a  living  republic  than  liberty 
itself. 

We  do  not  need  and  we  do  not  mean  to  live  within 
and  for  ourselves  alone,  but  we  do  mean  to  hold  our 
ideals  safe  from  foreign  incursion.  We  have  com 
manded  respect  and  confidence,  commanded  them  in 
friendship  and  the  associations  of  peace,  commanded 
them  in  the  conflicts  and  comradeships  of  war.  It  is 
easily  possible  to  hold  the  world's  high  estimate 
through  righteous  relationships.  If  our  ideals  of  civ 
ilization  are  the  best  in  the  world,  and  I  proudly  be 
lieve  that  they  are,  then  we  ought  to  send  the  American 
torch-bearers  leading  on  to  fulfillment.  America  aided 
in  saving  civilization  ;  Americans  will  not  fail  civiliza 
tion  in  the  deliberate  advancements  of  peace.  We  are 
willing  to  give,  but  we  resent  demands. 

MUST  SAVE  SOUL  OF  AMERICA 

I  do  not  believe,  Senators,  that  it  is  going  "to  break 
the  heart  of  the  world"  to  make  this  covenant  right,  or 
at  least  free  from  perils  which  would  endanger  our 
own  independence.  But  it  were  better  to  witness  this 
rhetorical  tragedy  than  destroy  the  soul  of  this  great 
republic. 


102'  REDEDICATING  AMERICA 

It  is  a  very  alluring  thing,  Mr.  President,  to  do  what 
the  world  has  never  done  before.  No  republic  has 
permanently  survived.  They  have  flashed,  illumined, 
and  advanced  the  world,  and  faded  or  crumbled.  I 
want  to  be  a  contributor  to  the  abiding  republic.  None 
of  us  to-day  can  be  sure  that  it  shall  abide  for  gen 
erations  to  come,  but  we  may  hold  it  unshaken  for  our 
day,  and  pass  it  on  to  the  next  generation  preserved  in 
its  integrity.  This  is  the  unending  call  of  duty  to  men 
of  every  civilization ;  it  is  distinctly  the  American  call 
to  duty  of  every  man  who  believes  we  have  come  the 
nearest  to  dependable  popular  government  the  world 
has  yet  witnessed. 

Let  us  have  an  America  walking  erect,  unafraid, 
concerned  about  its  rights  and  ready  to  defend  them, 
proud  of  its  citizens  and  committed  to  defend  them, 
and  sure  of  its  ideals  and  strong  to  support  them.  We 
are  a  hundred  millions  and  more  to-day,  and  if  the 
miracle  of  the  first  century  of  national  life  may  be  re 
peated  in  the  second  the  millions  of  to-day  will  be  the 
myriads  of  the  future.  I  like  to  think,  sirs,  that  out 
of  the  discovered  soul  of  this  republic  and  through 
our  preservative  actions  in  this  supreme  moment  of 
human  progress  we  shall  hold  the  word  American  the 
proudest  boast  of  citizenship  in  all  the  world. 


CHAPTER  IV 
AMERICANISM 

Address  Delivered  before  the  Ohio  Society  of  New 
York,  at  the  Waldorf  Hotel,  New  York 
City,  January  10, 


MR.   TOASTMASTER,    LADIES   AND   GENTLEMEN  -  The 

topic  of  the  evening  makes  it  befitting  to  allude  to  the 
contemporaneousness  of  the  birth  of  Ohio  and  the  be 
ginning  of  Americanism.  Ohio  became  a  definite  part 
of  the  Northwest  Territory  in  1787,  and  the  first  flam 
ing  torch  of  Americanism  was  lighted  in  framing  the 
Federal  Constitution  in  that  momentous  year.  Every 
thing  else  American  is  preliminary  or  subsidiary. 

The  Pilgrims  signed  their  simple  and  majestic  cov 
enant  a  full  century  and  a  half  before,  and  set  aflame 
their  beacon  of  liberty  on  the  coast  of  Massachusetts, 
and  other  pioneers  of  New-  World  freedom  were  rear 
ing  their  new  standards  of  liberty  from  Jamestown  to 
Plymouth  for  five  generations  before  Lexington  and 
Concord  heralded  a  new  era  ;  and  it  was  all  American 
in  the  destined  result,  yet  all  of  it  lacked  the  soul  of 
nationality.  In  simple  truth,  there  was  no  thought 
of  nationality  in  the  revolution  for  American  independ 
ence.  The  colonists  were  resisting  a  wrong  and  free 
dom  was  their  solace.  Once  it  was  achieved,  nation 
ality  was  the  only  agency  suited  to  its  preservation. 

103 


104  REDEDICATING  AMERICA 

Ours  was  the  physically  incomparable  America,  so 
enriched  by  God's  bounty  and  so  incalculable  in  its 
possibilities  that  adventurous  Spaniard  and  developing 
Englishman  stood  only  at  the  gateway  and  marveled. 
Ours  were  American  colonies  in  name,  but  the  col 
onists  were  still  echoing  the  prejudices  and  aspirations 
of  the  lands  from  which  they  came.  There  were  con 
flicting  ideas,  varying  conditions,  and  contending  jeal 
ousies,  but  no  common  confidence,  no  universal  pride, 
no  illuminating  spirit.  These  essentials  came  with  the 
adoption  of  the  Federal  Constitution  and  the  riveting 
of  union,  and  the  star  of  the  American  republic  was  set 
aglow  in  the  world  firmament  on  the  day  that  ratifica 
tion  was  effected. 

BIRTH  OF  AMERICANISM 

On  that  day  Americanism  began,  robed  in  nation 
ality.  On  that  day  the  American  republic  began  the 
blazed  trail  of  representative  popular  government.  On 
that  day  representative  democracy  was  proclaimed  the 
safe  agency  of  highest  human  freedom.  On  that  day 
America  headed  the  forward  procession  of  civil,  hu 
man  and  religious  liberty,  which  ultimately  will  effect 
the  liberation  of  all  mankind. 

I  am  not  thinking  to  magnify  its  comparative  excel 
lence,  its  charm  of  simplicity,  or  its  exalted  place 
among  the  written  fundamental  laws.  I  am  recalling 
the  Federal  Constitution  as  the  very  base  of  all  Amer 
icanism,  as  the  ark  of  the  covenant  of  American  lib 
erty,  as  the  very  temple  of  equal  rights,  as  the  very 
foundation  of  all  our  worthy  aspirations.  More,  it 
was  the  supreme  pledge  of  coordinate  government  by 


AMERICANISM  105 

law,  with  the  sponsorship  of  majorities,  the  protected 
rights  of  minorities,  and  freedom  from  usurpation  of 
power — the  people  to  rule. 

Men  ofttimes  sneer  nowadays  like  it  were  some 
useless  relic  of  the  formative  period,  seemingly  unmind 
ful  that  on  its  guaranties  rests  the  liberty  which  per 
mits  ungrateful  sneering.  Others  pronounce  it  time- 
worn  and  antiquated  and  unsuited  to  modern  liberty, 
but  they  forget  that  the  world's  orderly  freedom  has 
come  of  its  inspiration.  Perhaps  its  very  simplicity, 
its  utter  naturalness  for  a  popular  government  under 
majority  rule,  has  led  to  scant  appreciation  if  not  un- 
mindf ulness.  But  it  does  abide  and  ever  will  so  long 
as  the  republic  survives. 

CONSTITUTION  IS  SACRED 

The  trouble  is  that  its  sacredness,  if  not  forgotten, 
has  been  too  little  proclaimed.  Most  of  us  think  it  too 
righteous  to  assail  and  too  essential  to  ignore,  and  we 
have  held  the  superstructure  so  nearly  ideal  that  for 
more  than  a  hundred  years  we  have  had  no  peace-time 
statute  to  make  seditious  utterance  a  crime.  Appar 
ently  we  have  held  the  freedom  of  speech  which  the 
Constitution  guarantees  more  sacred  than  the  guaran 
teeing  instrument.  I  have  come  to  think  it  is  funda 
mentally  and  patriotically  American  to  say  there  isn't 
room  anywhere  in  these  United  States  for  any  one  who 
preaches  destruction  of  the  government  which  is  within 
the  Constitution. 

This  patriotically,  if  not  divinely,  inspired  funda 
mental  law  fits  every  real  American  citizen,  and  the 
man  who  can  not  fit  himself  to  it  is  not  fit  for  Amer- 


106  REDEDICATING  AMERICA 

lean  citizenship  nor  deserving  of  our  hospitality.  It 
fully  covers  all  classes  and  masses  in  its  guaranteed 
liberties,  and  any  class  or  mass  that  opposes  the  Con 
stitution  is  against  the  country  and  the  flag. 

DUTY  OF  CITIZENSHIP 

This  republic  has  never  feared  an  enemy  from  with 
out.  It  no  longer  intends  to  be  menaced  by  enemies 
from  within.  If  any  man  seeks  the  advantages  of 
American  citizenship,  let  him  assume  the  duties  of  that 
citizenship.  If  he  wishes  the  freedom  of  America, 
let  him  subscribe  to  freedom's  protection.  If  he  craves 
our  hospitality,  let  him  not  abuse  it.  If  he  wishes  to 
profit  by  American  opportunity,  let  him  join  in  making 
the  same  opportunity  open  to  others.  One  can  not  be 
half  American  and  half  European  or  half  something 
else.  This  is  the  day  for  the  all-American. 

Nor  can  the  foreigner  hereafter  be  a  prolonged  vis 
itor  or  resident  alien,  gathering  the  fruits  of  Amer 
ican  opportunity,  assuming  the  privileges  of  a  citizen 
without  whole-heartedly  plighting  his  faith  of  citizen 
ship.  I  do  not  mean  the  mere  perfunctory  declaration 
and  legal  naturalization.  I  mean  renounced  allegiance 
to  the  land  from  which  he  came  and  a  heart  and  soul 
consecration  to  this  republic.  It  were  better  to  leave 
some  of  our  industrial  work  undone  than  to  have  the 
government  undermined  in  its  doing. 

But  we  must  not  accept  the  overwrought  impression 
that  the  assault  on  stable  American  government  is 
chargeable  wholly  or  mainly  to  those  of  foreign  birth 
who  have  not  sworn  American  allegiance.  The  worst 
disloyalists  and  most  effective  conspirators  wear  the 


AMERICANISM  107 

garb  of  full-fledged  American  citizenship,  and  many 
of  them  inherited  American  opportunity  at  their  birth 
and  turned  liberty  into  license.  The  ignorant  for 
eigner  is  more  a  victim  than  a  conspirator,  because  he 
has  heard  the  gospel  of  revolution  when  no  one 
preached  the  blessings  of  orderly  government  and  the 
rewards  of  American  opportunity.  Agitator  and  revo 
lutionist  found  profit  in  agitation.  They  learned  the 
foreigner's  language  and  thought  his  thoughts  and 
reached  his  sympathies,  and  lied  to  his  ignorant  preju 
dices,  while  the  captains  of  American  industry  were 
counting  dividends  without  concern  for  the  human  ele 
ment  in  their  making.  There  were  exceptions  to  this 
crime  of  negligence,  but  in  most  instances  the  Amer 
icans  who  invited  and  enlisted  foreign  activities  to 
swell  the  man  power  of  industry  have  neglected  to 
teach  the  American  language,  failed  to  utter  American 
sympathies,  forgot  to  extend  American  fellowship, 
and  omitted  the  revealment  of  the  loftier  ideals  of 
American  citizenship.  The  grind  of  the  workshop 
alone  is  poor  culture  for  that  citizenship  which  makes 
the  ideal  republic. 

MUST  PRACTISE  AMERICANISM 

It  is  well  enough  to  preach  Americanism,  and  we 
ought.  It  is  more  important  to  practise  it,  and  we 
must.  In  truth,  my  countrymen,  we  need  practical 
Americanism  in  business  as  well  as  proclaimed  Amer 
icanism  in  politics.  It  is  superb  to  lead  in  commerce 
and  excel  in  industry — and  no  nation  ever  filled  a  bril 
liant  page  in  history  until  it  reached  industrial  and 
commercial  eminence — but  the  distinction  is  too  costly 


108  REDEDICATING  AMERICA 

if  wrought  in  the  neglected  qualities  of  citizenship  and 
attending  unrest  and  ultimate  revolution. 

It  is  well  enough  to  be  concerned  about  the  quantity 
and  quality  of  our  wares,  but  it  is  better  to  be  sure  of 
the  spirit  of  the  workers  who  make  them.  We  must 
be  thinking  of  men  as  well  as  materials  and  the  condi 
tions  of  making  as  well  as  marketing.  The  enhance 
ment  of  conditions  in  twenty  years  is  tribute  to  awak 
ened  American  conscience,  but  the  neglect  of  education 
is  the  warning  to  American  heedlessness. 

DEVOTION  TO  DUTY 

^There  must  be  concern  about  devotion  to  duty  as 
well  as  dividends.  There  must  be  a  thought  of  the 
jeventful  morrow  as  well  as  the  golden  day.  It  is  of 
no  avail  merely  to  preach  contentment.  Content  never 
lighted  a  furnace  nor  turned  a  wheel  in  all  creation. 
It  doesn't  exist  in  the  human  being  who  is  really  worth 
while.  Mere  subsistence  does  not  make  a  citizen,  and 
generous  compensation  without  thrift  blasts  every  hope 
of  acquirement. 

iWhat  humanity  most  needs  just  now  is  understand 
ing.  The  present-day  situation  is  more  acute  because 
we  are  in  the  ferment  that  came  of  war  and  war's 
aftermath.  Ours  was  a  fevered  world,  sometimes 
flighty,  as  we  used  to  say  in  the  village,  to  suggest 
fever's  fancies  or  delirium.  I  forbear  specification. 
But  we  are  slow  getting  normal  again,  and  the  world 
needs  sanity  as  it  seldom  needed  it  before. 

Many  have  thought  the  ratification  of  the  peace 
treaty  and  its  league  of  nations  would  make  us  normal, 


AMERICANISM  109 

but  that  is  the  plea  of  the  patent-medicine  fakir, 
whose  one  remedy  will  marvelously  cure  every  ill. 
Undoubtedly  formal  peace  will  help,  and  I  would 
gladly  speed  the  day,  if  we  sacrifice  nothing  vitally 
American.  Yet  as  a  matter  of  fact  actual  peace  pre 
vails  and  commerce  has  resumed  its  wonted  way. 

BACK  TO  NORMAL 

Normal  thinking  will  help  more.  And  normal  liv 
ing  will  have  the  effect  of  a  magician's  wand,  para 
doxical  as  the  statement  seems.  The  world  does  deeply 
need  to  get  normal,  and  liberal  doses  of  mental  science 
freely  mixed  with  resolution  will  help  mightily.  I  do 
not  mean  the  old  order  will  be  restored.  It  will  never 
come  again.  A  world  war's  upheaval  which  ends  au 
tocracies  and  wipes  out  dynasties  and  multiplies  cost 
of  government,  an  upheaval  which  shifts  the  sacred 
ratio  of  16  to  1  until  silver  is  the  more  sacred,  sweeps 
humanity  beyond  any  return  to  precise  pre-war  condi 
tions. 

But  there  is  a  sane  normalcy  due  under  the  new  con-« 
ditions,  to  be  reached  in  deliberation  and  understand 
ing.  And  all  men  must  understand  and  join  in  reach 
ing  it.  Certain  fundamentals  are  unchangeable  and 
everlasting.  Life  without  toil  never  was  and  never 
can  be.  Ease  and  competence  are  not  to  be  seized  in 
frenzied  envy;  they  are  the  reward  of  thrift  and  in 
dustry  and  denial.  There  can  be  no  excellence  without 
great  labor.  There  is  no  reward  except  as  it  is  mer 
ited.  Lowered  cost  of  living  and  increased  cost  of  pro 
duction  are  an  economic  fraud.  Capital  majces  possi- 


110  REDEDI GATING  AMERICA 

ble  while  labor  produces,  and  neither  ever  achieved 
without  the  other,  and  both  of  them  together  never 
wrought  a  success  without  genius  and  management. 
No  one  of  them,  through  the  power  of  great  wealth, 
the  force  of  knowledge,  or  the  might  of  great  numbers 
is  above  the  law,  and  no  one  of  them  shall  dominate 
a  free  people. 

SUPREMACY  OF  LAW 

There  can  be  no  liberty  without  security,  and  there 
can  be  no  security  without  the  supremacy  of  law  and 
the  majesty  of  just  government.  In  the  gleaming 
Americanism  of  the  Constitution  there  is  neither  fear 
nor  favor,  but  there  are  equal  rights  to  all,  equal  op 
portunities  beckoning  to  every  man,  and  justice  un- 
trammeled.  The  government  which  surrenders  to  the 
conspiracies  of  an  influential  few  or  yields  to  the  in 
timidation  of  the  organized  many  does  justice  to 
neither  and  none  and  dims  the  torch  of  Americanism 
which  must  light  our  way  to  safety. 

Governmental  policies  change  and  laws  are  altered 
to  meet  the  changed  conditions  which  attend  all  human 
progress.  There  are  orderly  processes  for  these  nec 
essary  changes.  Let  no  one  proclaim  the  Constitution 
unresponsive  to  the  conscience  of  the  republic.  We 
have  recently  witnessed  its  amendment  with  less  than 
eighteen  months  intervening  between  submission  and 
ratification,  with  some  manifestation  of  sorrow  mark 
ing  the  fundamental  change.  It  promptly  responds  to 
American  conviction  and  is  the  rock  on  which  is 
builded  the  temple  of  orderly  liberty  and  the  guaran 
teed  freedom  of  the  American  republic. 


AMERICANISM  111 


CIVIL  LIBERTY  AT  STAKE 

The  insistent  problem  of  the  day,  magnified  in  the 
madness  of  war  and  revealed  in  the  extreme  reaction 
from  hateful  and  destroyed  autocracy  to  misapplied 
and  bolshevist  democracy,  like  the  pathos  of  impotent 
Russia,  is  the  preservation  of  civil  liberty  and  its  guar 
anties.  Let  Russia  experiment  in  her  fatuous  folly 
until  the  world  is  warned  anew  by  her  colossal  trag 
edy.  And  let  every  clamorous  advocate  of  the  red 
regime  go  to  Russia  and  revel  in  its  crimsoned  reign. 
This  is  law-abiding  America ! 

Our  American  course  is  straight  ahead,  with  liberty 
under  the  law,  and  freedom  glorified  in  righteous  re 
straint.  Reason  illumines  our  onward  path,  and  de 
liberate,  intelligent  public  opinion  reveals  every  pit 
fall  and  byway  which  must  be  avoided.  America 
spurns  every  committal  to  the  limits  of  mediocrity  and 
bids  every  man  to  climb  to  the  heights  and  rewards 
him  as  he  merits  it.  This  is  the  essence  of  liberty  and 
made  us  what  we  are.  Our  system  may  be  imperfect, 
but  under  it  we  have  wrought  to  world  astonishment, 
and  we  are  only  fairly  begun. 

HONEST  LIVING  IS  SOLUTION 

It  would  halt  the  great  procession  to  time  our  steps 
with  the  indolent,  the  lazy,  the  incapable,  or  the  sul 
lenly  envious.  Nor  can  we  risk  the  course  sometimes 
suggested  by  excessive  wealth  and  its  ofttimes  insolent 
assumption  of  power,  but  we  can  practise  thrift  and 
industry,  we  can  live  simply  and  commend  righteous 


112  REDEDICATING  AMERICA 

achievement,  we  can  make  honest  success  an  inspira 
tion  to  succeed,  and  march  hopefully  on  to  the  chorus 
of  liberty,  opportunity  and  justice. 

Sometimes  we  must  go  beneath  the  surface  gulf 
stream  to  find  the  resistless  currents  of  the  great  ocean. 
It  little  matters  what  a  man  proclaims  in  an  ephem 
eral  outcry  for  fancied  reformation,  you  get  the  true 
undercurrent  when  you  learn  his  aspiration  for  his 
children  and  his  children's  children.  He  stands  with 
his  generation  between  yesterday  and  the  morrow, 
eager  to  lift  his  children  to  a  little  higher  plane  than 
mediocrity  can  bridge  and  which  socialism  never 
reaches.  He  wants  to  hand  on  American  freedom  un 
abridged  ;  he  wants  to  bequeath  the  waters  of  Amer 
ican  political  life  unpolluted;  he  would  bestow  the 
quality  of  opportunity  unaltered  and  the  security  of 
just  government  unendangered.  The  underwriting  is 
in  the  complete  and  rejoicing  Americanism  of  every 
citizen  of  the  republic. 

MUST  PRESERVE   NATIONALISM 

Mr.  Toastmaster,  we  have  been  hearing  lately  of  the 
selfishness  of  nationality,  and  it  has  been  urged  that 
we  must  abandon  it  in  order  to  perform  our  full  duty 
to  humanity  and  civilization.  Let  us  hesitate  before 
we  surrender  the  nationality  which  is  the  very  soul  of 
highest  Americanism.  This  republic  has  never  failed 
humanity  or  endangered  civilization.  We  have  been 
tardy  about  it,  like  when  we  were  proclaiming  democ 
racy  and  neutrality  while  we  ignored  our  national 
rights,  but  the  ultimate  and  helpful  part  we  played  in 


AMERICANISM  113 

the  great  war  will  be  the  pride  of  Americans  so  long 
as  the  world  recites  the  story. 

We  do  not  mean  to  hold  aloof,  we  choose  no  isola 
tion,  we  shun  no  duty.  I  like  to  rejoice  in  an  American 
conscience  and  in  a  big  conception  of  our  obligations 
to  liberty,  justice  and  civilization.  Aye,  and  more, 
I  like  to  think  of  Columbia's  helping  hand  to  new  re 
publics  which  are  seeking  the  blessings  portrayed  in 
our  example.  But  I  have  a  confidence  in  our  America 
that  requires  no  council  of  foreign  powers  to  point  the 
way  of  American  duty.  We  wish  to  counsel,  cooperate 
and  contribute,  but  we  arrogate  to  ourselves  the  keep 
ing  of  the  American  conscience  and  every  concept  of 
our  moral  obligations.  It  is  fine  to  idealize,  but  it  is 
very  practical  to  make  sure  our  own  house  is  in  per 
fect  order  before  we  attempt  the  miracle  of  the  Old- 
World  stabilization. 

AMERICA  FIRST 

Call  it  the  selfishness  of  nationality  if  you  will,  I 
think  it  an  inspiration  to  patriotic  devotion — 

To  safeguard  America  first. 

To  stabilize  America  first. 

To  prosper  America  first. 

To  think  of  America  first. 

To  exalt  America  first. 

To  live  for  and  revere  America  first. 

We  may  do  more  than  prove  exemplars  to  the 
world  of  enduring,  representative  democracy  where 
the  Constitution  and  its  liberties  are  unshaken.  We 
may  go  on  securely  to  the  destined  fulfillment  and 


114  REDEDICATING  AMERICA 

make  a  strong  and  generous  nation's  contribution  to 
human  progress,  forceful  in  example,  generous  in  con 
tribution,  helpful  in  all  suffering,  and  fearless  in  all 
conflicts. 

Let  the  internationalist  dream  and  the  Bolshevist  de 
stroy.  God  pity  him  "for  whom  no  minstrel  raptures 
swell."  In  the  spirit  of  the  republic  we  proclaim 
Americanism  and  acclaim  America. 


CHAPTER  V 
THEODORE  ROOSEVELT 

Ohio  Legislative  Memorial  Address  Before  a  Joint 
Convention  of  the  Eighty-third  General  As 
sembly,  January  29, 


GENTLEMEN  OF  THE  GENERAL  ASSEMBLY  —  I  stood 
before  the  flag-draped  casket  in  the  little  church  at 
Oyster  Bay,  amid  simplicity  so  rigid  that  one  could 
not  help  remarking  it,  and  yielded  to  conflicting  emo 
tions.  I  wondered  if  by  some  fitting  miracle  an  in 
animate  flag  could  mourn.  One  could  not  see  the  cas 
ket  —  only  its  form  —  because  the  vision  was  filled  with 
the  flag,  and  it  seemed  to  me  the  colors  clung  as  though 
sorrowing  at  the  loss  of  their  most  fearless  defender. 
One  little  noted  the  floral  tributes,  one  was  little  con 
cerned  about  eminent  statesmen  and  famous  writers 
and  military  chieftains  and  high  officials  who  had 
gathered  with  neighbors  and  friends  —  political  and 
personal  friends  —  in  reverent  sorrow  for  the  long  fare 
well.  My  own  ears  were  deaf  to  the  reading  of  the 
ritual  and  the  recital  of  his  favorite  hymn,  I  was  think 
ing  of  the  flag  and  the  soulless  form  it  draped  in 
jealous  sorrow.  Great  citizens  had  passed  before.  Be 
loved  executives,  heroic  soldiers  and  far-seeing  states 
men  —  all  had  come  to  the  inevitable,  either  too  soon 

115 


116  REDEDICATING  AMERICA 

or  in  the  fulness  of  distinguished  lives — and  the  na 
tion  had  mourned,  and  peoples  sorrowed,  and  poten 
tates  had  sympathized,  but  there  was  a  distinct  con 
viction  that  the  flag  lost  its  bravest  defender  when 
Theodore  Roosevelt  passed  from  life  to  the  eternal.  A 
flaming  spirit  of  American  patriotism  was  gone.  A 
great  void  had  come,  and  there  was  none  to  fill  it. 

EMINENT  AMERICAN 

Measured  from  any  view-point  Colonel  Roosevelt 
was  one  of  the  eminent  Americans  of  all  times,  and 
history  will  write  him  one  of  the  most  conspicuous 
figures  in  all  American  history.  I  do  not  underrate 
the  eminence  which  has  gone  before,  nor  doubt  that 
great  and  distinguished  Americans  will  follow,  but  in 
any  appraisal  Colonel  Roosevelt's  name  will  be  in 
separably  linked  with  the  finding  of  the  American  soul, 
with  the  great  awakening  and  consecration.  Now  and 
hereafter  let  it  be  said :  "Here  was  a  great  and  coura 
geous  American,  who  called  to  the  slumbering  spirit 
of  the  republic  and  made  it  American  in  fact  as  well 
as  in  name." 

I  say  it  after  full  deliberation,  and  free  from  all  in 
clinations  which  characterize  hero-worship,  I  believe 
Colonel  Roosevelt  to  have  been  the  most  courageous 
American  of  all  times.  He  not  only  believed,  he  pro 
claimed  and  acted.  He  was  not  only  American  in  his 
own  heart  and  soul,  but  he  believed  every  man  who 
wore  the  habiliments  should  be  an  American  in  every 
heart -beat,  and  commit  himself  to  simple  and  unfail 
ing  Americanism. 


THEODORE  ROOSEVELT  117 


EXALTED  BY  AMERICANISM 

It  was  the  mastering  passion,  the  supreme  end.  Men 
thought  of  him  first  as  a  warrior,  but  it  was  his  all- 
encompassing  Americanism  which  made  him  one.  His 
torians  rank  him  high  as  a  statesman.  It  was  his 
Americanism  that  exalted  him.  Many  believed  him 
to  have  become  the  consummate  politician — and  he  was 
• — but  he  put  his  Americanism  high  above  political 
plans  and  practises.  Not  a  few  careful  observers  be 
lieve  that  Colonel  Roosevelt  lost  the  Republicans  the 
election  in  1916,  and  I  have  heard  him  say  the  conten 
tion  may  be  well  founded.  But  he  was  battling  for  a 
bigger  thing  than  party  triumph,  and  he  put  that  big 
ger  thing  far  above  and  beyond  party  success.  He  be 
lieved  our  involvement  in  the  world  war  was  inevita 
ble,  and  was  seeking  to  awaken  the  republic.  He  saw 
the  purpose  to  rend  the  loyal  concord  of  American 
citizenship,  and  bore  aloft  the  torch  to  lead  us  from 
the  perils  of  pacificism  and  indecision.  He  never 
turned  back.  He  never  counted  the  political  cost. 
Though  he  thought  to  submit  his  national  leadership 
again  in  1920,  and  knew  the  perils  in  criticism  and 
truth-telling,  he  struck  fearlessly  at  every  menacing 
thing,  regardless  of  numbers  involved,  and  smote  di 
vided  loyalty  and  hyphenated  Americanism  at  every 
turn. 

"Country  first"  was  his  supreme  ideal,  and  "country 
first"  was  his  unfailing  practise.  The  words  were  em 
blazoned  in  the  oriflamme  which  enthused  his  follow 
ers  throughout  a  marvelously  eventful  career. 


118  REDEDICATING  AMERICA 


SOUGHT  FOREIGN  SERVICE 

I  sensed  the  depths  of  his  convictions  when  Con 
gress  made  it  lawful  for  him  to  take  a  volunteer  army 
to  France,  shortly  after  our  entry  in  the  war.  We  did 
not  write  his  name  in  the  law,  but  the  country  knew.  I 
think  a  major-generalship  appealed  to  his  ambition,  but 
he  stipulated  no  rank.  He  wanted  to  recruit  and  re 
spond  to  the  call  of  threatened  civilization.  His  critics 
misconstrued.  I  am  sure  I  knew.  He  wanted  to  save 
the  morale  of  suffering  France  and  awaken  the  morale 
in  this  slumbering  republic.  In  the  retrospect  I  believe 
he  rendered  a  greater  service  with  voice  and  pen  at 
home  than  was  possible  to  perform  with  his  sword  in 
France.  And  somehow  I  am  glad  he  remained  a 
colonel — nay,  the  colonel.  How  significant  it  is,  and 
what  a  tribute,  that  he  has  made  the  title  of  loftiest 
rank,  he  is  "The  Colonel"  to  all  America,  and  one 
needs  only  to  mention  the  title  without  the  name  to 
have  it  understood  that  he  is  speaking  of  the  most  em 
inent  colonel  of  all  time. 

It  would  be  futile  to  attempt  a  life  review  within  the 
limitations  befitting  this  occasion.  He  was  many  sided, 
and  his  strenuous  career  was  full  of  great  accomplish 
ment.  What  history  will  recite  is  fairly  known.  What 
biography  contains  will  be  more  revealing.  History 
records  events,  biography  reveals  the  men  who  give 
events  to  history. 

EXTRAORDINARY  MANHOOD 

Colonel  Roosevelt's  extraordinary  manhood,  his  ap 
pealing,  vigorous,  fearless,  American  manhood  is  an 


THEODORE  ROOSEVELT  119 

inseparable  thing  from  his  great  public  career.  He  re 
vealed  it  as  the  ranchman  in  the  freedom  of  the  West. 
He  revealed  it  as  the  soldier  in  the  world's  first  war 
for  humanity.  He  revealed  it  in  an  administrative  and 
executive  office,  in  his  vaster  responsibilities,  and  it 
was  the  conspicuous  side  of  him  in  the  retirement  to 
which  he  could  not  retire.  It  was  the  big  thing  to  those 
who  knew  him  best,  and  no  man  ever  had  faster  and 
firmer  friends.  "Better  be  faithful  than  famous"  was 
an  expressed  conviction,  and  he  was  not  only  its 
exemplaf  but  he  inspired  faithfulness.  No  other  man 
could  have  enlisted  the  following  which  went  with  him 
to  certain  and  foreseen  political  disaster  in  1912.  Or 
did  they  go  with  him  ?  Perhaps  it  is  nearer  the  truth 
to  say  he  went  with  them.  I  have  heard  it  said  he  ad 
vised  against  the  political  division  in  that  year  of  bit 
terness  and  defeat,  that  he  yielded  to  the  pressure  and 
judgment  of  friends  and  chose  to  be  "faithful  rather 
than  famous."  The  retrospect  recalls  two  notable  re- 
vealments:  he  lost  or  broke  few  friendships;  he  was 
ever  as  willing  to  be  convinced  as  he  was  convincing. 
The  popular  impression  had  him  often  domineering 
and  insistent,  but  there  were  few  American  presidents 
who  sought  advice  more  widely  or  were  more  ready 
to  accept.  My  own  impressions  concerning  him,  gath 
ered  from  press,  platform  and  passing  events,  were 
largely  altered  by  personal  contact,  and  utterly  changed 
by  the  revelations  of  those  who  knew  him  longer  and 
better.  Many  thought  the  mighty  hunter  lacking  in 
the  general  attributes,  but  he  could  be  as  gentle  as  he 
was  strong,  and  as  sympathetic  as  a  mother  touched  by 
love. 


120  REDEDICATING  AMERICA 


MAN   OF  ACTION 

He  was,  first  of  all,  a  man  of  action,  and  delighted 
in  strenuosity  and  confessed  his  fondness  for  hurrah 
and  parade.  But  he  was  not  always  performing  on 
a  public  stage.  One  of  the  very  big  events  in  his  ca 
reer  was  the  least  conspicuous  and  was  barely  known, 
until  recited  in  the  biography  of  the  late  John  Hay, 
who  had  served  in  his  inherited  Cabinet  as  secretary 
of  state.  Germany  threatened  the  seizure  of  a  port 
in  Venezuela  to  enforce  some  financial  claims  of  Ger 
man  citizens.  President  Roosevelt  called  in  the  Ger 
man  ambassador,  and  in  a  quiet  demeanor  that  was 
ominous  in  itself,  told  him  to  tell  the  kaiser  that  unless 
he  agreed  to  arbitrate  the  German  contention  within 
ten  days  Admiral  Dewey  would  sail  an  American  fleet 
with  sealed  instructions  to  give  armed  resistance  to 
any  attempt  at  German  seizure.  That  was  a  message 
the  kaiser  could  understand.  The  kaiser  agreed  to 
arbitrate.  President  Roosevelt  publicly  praised  him 
for  the  peaceful  proposal  which  the  president  himself 
so  quietly  yet  firmly  demanded.  The  great  criminal, 
who  afterward  set  the  world  aflame  in  1914,  had 
yielded  to  the  firm  assertion  of  American  purpose,  and 
the  Monroe  Doctrine  was  emphasized  anew  in  the  esti 
mate  of  Old- World  diplomacy. 

There  was  more  of  unparaded  activity  but  no  less 
effectiveness  in  dealing  with  the  designing  statesmen  of 
Colombia  in  the  establishment  of  a  friendly  republic 
in  Panama,  which  left  the  money  grabbers  of  the 
greater  state  begging  for  millions  to  this  very  hour, 
though  the  great  interoceanic  canal  is  long  since  a 


THEODORE  ROOSEVELT  121 

finished  monument  for  all  time  to  President  Roose 
velt's  aggressive  Americanism  and  our  republic's  ca 
pacity  to  do  big  things.  It  is  idle  to  speculate  now,  but 
I  can  not  believe  his  stalwart  Americanism  would 
have  ever  sanctioned  the  surrender  of  its  intended  ad 
vantages  to  American  shipping. 

AWAKENED  NATIONAL  CONSCIENCE 

Perhaps  his  greatest  work  apart  from  his  appeal 
ing  Americanism,  and  yet  a  vital  part  of  it,  was  his 
crusade  for  a  new  order  of  things,  a  new  conscience  in 
the  republic.  We  can  appraise  him  now  in  the  after 
math  of  fuller  understanding,  and  even  those  who 
most  violently  opposed  him  must  confess  his  great  part 
in  an  essential  awakening.  He  did  four  years  of 
arousing  and  uprooting.  His  far-seeing  vision  de 
tected  a  dangerous  drift.  He  cried  out  for  govern 
mental  assertion  of  authority,  lest  government  itself 
should  be  the  governed.  In  his  zest  he  was  the  rad 
ical,  as  all  crusaders  are,  but  when  he  saw  the  business 
conscience  of  America  awakened,  he  gladly  welcomed 
constructive  supersedure.  He  was  really  less  the  rad 
ical  than  he  ofttimes  appeared,  and  sometimes  spoke 
radically  against  his  own  judgment.  The  greatest  blun 
der  of  his  career  was  made  in  this  very  chamber  when 
he  addressed  the  Constitutional  Convention  of  1912. 
He  came  against  his  own  judgment  and  in  yielding  to 
insistent  advice  declared  for  the  recall  of  judicial  de 
cisions.  It  is  not  surprising  that  one  of  his  energy  and 
courage  should  blunder,  particularly  in  a  period  of 
tremendous  conflict  and  crusading  zeal.  It  was  a  mark 
of  his  greatness  that  he  instantly  recovered,  and  lost 


122  REDEDICATING  AMERICA 

little  of  his  hold  and  none  of  the  respect  of  the  Amer 
ican  people.  He  incurred  violent  enmities,  but  none 
ever  called  him  an  unfair  opponent.  He  struck  as  he 
spoke,  straight  from  the  shoulder,  and  he  practised  as 
he  preached.  In  his  virile  American  manhood  he  was 
the  surpassing  and  inspiring  example.  In  the  fulness 
of  mental  and  physical  vigor,  he  was  the  great  patri 
otic  sentinel,  pacing  the  parapet  of  the  republic,  alert 
to  danger  and  every  menace  and  in  love  with  duty  and 
service  and  always  unafraid. 

MADE  AMERICA  BETTER 

It  is  little  to  say  that  the  republic  is  bigger  and  bet 
ter  and  mightily  advanced  by  his  part  in  its  glorious 
history,  more  American  for  his  call  to  patriotism  and 
more  secure  for  his  warning  of  perils.  It  is  more  to 
say  he  inspired  those  who  follow  to  nobler  manhood 
and  higher  ideals. 

It  didn't  seem  quite  in  harmony  with  his  untiring  ac 
tivity  and  unharnessed  soul  that  its  flame  should  fail 
in  the  quiet  of  slumber,  but  it  was  peace  valiantly  and 
triumphantly  won,  and  the  flames  he  lighted  burned 
afresh  and  will  light  the  way  of  a  people  whom  he 
loved  and  who  loved  him  as  a  great  American. 


CHAPTER  VI 

RELATIONS  WITH  THEODORE  ROOSEVELT 
Public  Address  at  Topeka,  Kansas,  March  8,  1920 

THERE  has  been  widely  distributed  from  my  own 
state  some  quotations  of  utterances  carried  in  1912  in 
the  Marion  (Ohio)  Star,  of  which  I  have  been  the 
sole  or  principal  owner  for  the  past  thirty  years.  These 
quotations  are  distributed  to  appeal  to  the  opposition 
to  me  on  the  part  of  the  friends  of  that  great  out 
standing  American,  Theodore  Roosevelt.  I  magnify 
no  posthumous  claims  to  an  intimate  friendship  with 
Colonel  Roosevelt,  and  could  have  no  title  to  his  politi 
cal  mantle,  even  if  such  bestowal  were  possible  in 
this  republic.  On  the  other  hand,  I  vigorously  opposed 
him  in  1912  just  as  he  typically  opposed  the  regular 
wing  of  the  Republican  party  to  which  I  adhered. 

Theodore  Roosevelt  never  did  anything  half-heart 
edly.  He  preached  the  gospel  of  hitting  and  hitting 
hard  for  what  he  believed  to  be  right.  He  expected  his 
opponents  to  fight,  and  we  were  in  a  fight  in  1912.  I 
did  my  share  of  it  in  our  newspaper  and  on  the  stump. 
Colonel  Roosevelt  and  Mr.  Taft  were  greatly  es 
tranged,  but  both  were  big  enough  to  put  aside  their 
grief  and  bury  their  hostilities  and  make  common  ap 
peal  to  the  American  people  for  a  Republican  victory 
in  1918.  He  and  others  came  to  new  understanding. 

123 


124  REDEDICATING  AMERICA 

My  concord  with  Theodore  Roosevelt  came  shortly 
after  our  party's  defeat  in  1916.  He  invited  me  to  a 
conference  and  I  gladly  responded.  We  did  not  dwell 
long  on  the  differences  of  1912.  That  was  an  old 
story,  he  thought  his  course  was  justified  and  we 
jointly  deplored  the  result,  but  he  did  insist  we  must 
all  get  together  and  save  the  country  through  a  Repub 
lican  restoration;  that  the  Republican  party  was  the 
one  agency  through  which  to  give  highest  service,  and 
the  compact  of  our  council  and  cooperation  was  made 
then  and  there,  and  in  many  conferences  afterward  I 
came  to  know  how  deeply  he  felt  the  necessity  of  all 
Republicans  uniting  to  effect  the  party  supremacy  so 
essential  to  the  nation's  good.  It  was  his  personal, 
rather  than  his  political,  wish  that  I  should  stand 
sponsor  for  the  amendment  to  the  army  bill  that  made 
it  possible  for  him  to  take  a  volunteer  division  to 
France,  and  I  rejoiced  over  the  enactment,  though 
President  Wilson  would  not  accept  it.  But  the  big 
thing  was  that  Theodore  Roosevelt  was  keen  to  wipe 
out  the  differences  of  1912,  now  buried  beneath  eight 
years  of  regrets,  and  look  with  hope  to  party  triumph 
through  united  endeavor  in  1920. 

If  he  had  lived,  he  would  have  been  our  Republican 
nominee  by  acclamation.  It  is  poor  proof  of  devotion 
and  poorer  evidence  of  the  inheritance  of  the  political 
wisdom  which  marked  his  matchless  career  to  parade 
the  mistakes  of  1912  to  inspire  a  victory  in  1920. 
More,  it  is  not  progressive.  It  is  retrogressive.  I 
choose  a  party  and  a  leadership  which  appraises  men 
and  issues  of  to-day,  and  thinks  not  of  the  differences 
of  yesterday,  but  the  victory  of  to-morrow. 


CHAPTER  VII 
[WILLIAM  McKiNLEY 

Address  'at  the  McKinley  Memorial  Dinner,  Niles, 
Ohio,  January  29,  1920 

MR.  TOASTMASTER  AND  GENTLEMEN Much  IS  being 

said,  properly  and  becomingly,  in  these  anxious  days 
of  the  republic,  about  a  saving  Americanism.  No  one 
better  typified  it  than  William  McKinley.  And  he 
lived  and  preached  and  practised  it,  first  as  the  cure 
for  national  disaster,  and  later  for  the  guaranty  of 
the  greater  good  fortunes  of  the  American  people.  His 
Americanism  wrought  the  restoration  in  times  of 
peace,  and  the  very  same  Americanism  revealed  our 
unselfishness  in  war.  More,  he  proved  the  republic's 
readiness  for  every  becoming  burden  for  humanity's 
sake,  in  war's  aftermath. 

Likewise,  much  has  been  said  in  the  last  three  years 
about  making  war  for  humanity's  sake.  It  is  fitting  to 
say  on  this  occasion,  in  this  memorial  edifice,  that 
America's  first  war  for  humanity's  sake  was  com 
manded  by  President  William  McKinley.  Indeed,  no 
one  will  dispute  it :  the  first  recorded  war  for  human 
ity's  sake  in  all  the  world  was  when  he  unsheathed  the 
sword  in  behalf  of  suffering  and  oppressed  humanity 
in  Cuba  in  1898.  And  when  it  was  won — quickly  and 
magnificently  won — he  gave  to  tb^  world  the  first 

125 


126  REDEDICATING  AMERICA 

example  of  national  unselfishness  and  the  first  Amer 
ican  proof  of  loftier  aims  than  territorial  aggrandize 
ment. 

I  thought  then  that  Cuba  rightfully  ought  to  have  a 
place  under  the  American  flag.  I  still  believe  that  the 
American  spirit,  backed  by  the  security  of  American 
protection,  has  lighted  the  way  to  notable  Cuban  prog 
ress.  But  McKinley  had  the  clearer  vision  and  saw 
the  value  of  the  world's  understanding  and  Cuba's  con 
fidence  in  our  national  unselfishness.  He  restored  the 
flag  which  had  been  hauled  down  in  Hawaii,  then 
furled  a  triumphant  flag  in  Cuba,  in  high  honor,  to 
proclaim  the  banner  of  kept  faith  and  national  right 
eousness  to  all  the  world. 

PIONEER  OF  EXPANSION 

In  the  story  of  the  eventful  year  so  recently  brought: 
to  a  close  more  has  been  said  about  lofty  ideals  and 
the  assumed  burdens  of  civilization  than  in  all  history 
before,  but  I  like  to  recall  that  William  McKinley 
was  a  pioneer  who  blazed  the  trail  to  the  realm  of  en 
nobled  nations.  He  wrought  our  first  expansion,  he 
was  its  first  official  sponsor,  and  the  party  now  in 
power,  seeking  all  the  entanglements  which  the  fathers 
warned  against,  then  proclaimed  it  imperialism.  Mr. 
Bryan  paramounted  it  eloquently,  without  influencing 
the  popular  or  electoral  vote,  and  sixteen  years  later, 
while  Europe  was  torn  with  stupendous  conflict,  we 
were  still  so  concerned  about  our  own  safety  that 
President  Wilson  and  a  sympathetic  majority  in  both 
houses  of  Congress  sought  to  cast  the  Philippines 
adrift  That  was  before  supergovernment  was 


WILLIAM  McKINLEY  127 

dreamed  of,  that  was  before  the  contemplated  merger 
of  this  republic  in  a  supreme  government  of  the  world. 
No  matter  how  the  future  fates  may  revolve,  no 
matter  how  the  premature  grants  of  self-government 
may  impair  the  good  that  was  previously  wrought,  no 
matter  how  the  logic  of  theory  when  practically  ap 
plied  may  end  the  glory  of  our  flag  in  the  Orient,  we 
must  credit  the  first  helpfulness  of  this  republic  to  a 
struggling  people  in  distant  lands  to  the  sympathy  and 
courage  of  William  McKinley,  and  to  American  spon 
sorship  in  the  Philippines  will  be  accredited  one  of  the 
splendid  pages  of  modern  history. 

AMERICAN  NATIONALIST 

I  do  not  venture  to  apply  too  intimately  the  views  he 
held  or  the  lessons  he  taught  to  the  mighty  problems 
incident  to  our  foreign  relations  of  to-day.  But  my 
acquaintance  was  sufficient  and  my  recollections  are 
clear  enough  to  be  very  sure  that,  in  spite  of  his  sym 
pathy  and  generosity,  he  would  be  an  American  na 
tionalist.  His  very  soul  was  consecrated  to  the  up 
building  and  safeguarding  of  this  republic.  He  wanted 
the  superb  and  supreme  America.  He  wished  a  patri 
otic  and  a  prosperous  people.  In  all  his  public  life  his 
first  concern  was  for  these  United  States. 

He  fought  with  the  sons  of  the  North  to  preserve 
union  and  nationality.  Not  for  a  material  advantage, 
but  to  preserve  the  inheritance  of  the  fathers  and  hold 
sacred  the  great  Constitution  on  which  the  republic  is 
founded.  It  was  a  strange  fate,  armed  defender  that 
he  was,  that  he  should  be  the  first  of  all  our  presidents 
really  to  understand  the  South,  and  make  it  understand 


128  REDEDICATING  AMERICA 

him;  and  then,  in  sympathy  and  understanding,  he 
healed  the  old  wounds  of  war  and  won  the  new  con 
cord  of  union  so  vital  to  our  greater  development.  In 
the  greatness  of  his  soul  and  with  the  tact  that  charac 
terized  his  public  life,  William  McKinley  began  the 
most  essential  of  all  preparedness  for  national  defense 
by  restoring  the  confidence  in  union  twenty  years  be 
fore  a  world  war  put  us  to  the  supreme  test. 

I  am  very  sure  that  if  William  McKinley  were  alive 
to-day  and  charged  with  the  trusted  leadership  we  so 
gladly  accorded  him,  he  would  be  deeply  sympathetic 
with  the  troubled  world ;  he  would  be  keen  to  be  help 
ful  to  anxious  peoples,  but  his  deeper  concern  would 
be  for  our  own  welfare;  and  in  his  capacity  to  bring 
people  together  he  would  have  all  in  authority  work 
ing  to  that  common  end. 

A  PARTISAN  REPUBLICAN 

He  was  notably  a  partisan,  a  partisan  Republican. 
He  was  the  most  representative  Republican  of  his  day. 
He  believed  in  popular  government  through  the  agency 
of  political  parties,  and  believed  in  his  party  as  the 
agency  of  greatest  good  to  the  American  people.  He 
was  considerate,  tolerant,  courteous,  but  ever  a  par 
tisan  Republican.  He  did  not  believe  his  party  had  a 
monopoly  on  all  that  was  good  or  patriotic,  but  he  did 
believe  it  capable  of  best  serving  our  common  country, 
and  its  policies  best  suited  to  promote  our  common 
good  fortune.  His  was  an  outstanding  personality, 
lovable  and  admirable,  but  his  strength  was  that  of  a 
party  spokesman,  and  his  great  decisions  came  of  Re 
publican  counsel. 


WILLIAM  McKINLEY  129 

Whether  it  was  the  solution  of  a  pressing  problem 
at  home,  whether  it  was  maintained  honor  and  fully 
met  obligations  in  our  foreign  relations,  whether  it 
was  the  continued  elevation  of  the  standards  of  Amer 
ican  life  and  the  continued  advancement  of  all  our 
people,  William  McKinley  was  ever  found  committed 
to  a  sane  and  workable  plan.  It  is  not  unbecoming  to 
say  that  when  anarchy  struck  him  down  and  Theodore 
Roosevelt  took  up  his  burdens,  he  instantly  announced 
he  would  continue  the  policies  of  his  illustrious  prede 
cessor,  and  won  the  confidence  and  affection  of  Amer 
ica  in  doing  so.  It  dims  the  glory  of  neither  to  re 
call  it.  They  differed  in  type,  of ttimes  in  methods,  but 
accomplished  greatly  because  they  voiced  the  dominant 
party  in  the  republic. 

COOPERATED  WITH  CONGRESS 

No  one  could  imagine  William  McKinley  belittling 
Congress,  or  berating  a  "pygmy-minded  Senate,"  be 
cause  that  would  have  been  unlike  him.  He  had 
served  in  Congress,  respected  it  as  a  coordinate  branch 
of  the  government  and  worked  with  it — not  in  oppo 
sition  to  it,  not  in  domination  over  it.  The  success  of 
his  legislative  and  executive  career  had  its  foundation 
in  his  ability  to  understand  and  to  be  understood,  and 
in  understanding  commit  all  the  forces  of  government 
to  seek  the  desired  achievement. 

It  is  a  faddish  practise,  sometimes  an  assumed  su 
periority,  to  cry  out  against  political  parties,  and  pro 
claim  the  super-man  who  is  free  from  party  shackles. 
It  is  more  a  fraud  than  it  is  a  reformation.  If  the 
super-man  is  available,  he  is  still  a  partisan — a  per- 


130  &EDEDICATING  AMERICA 

sonal  partisan  if  not  political.  In  spite  of  the  tardy 
call  to  Republicans  for  a  patriotic  service  for  war,  de 
layed  until  the  supreme  emergency  broke  down  the 
barriers,  when  the  perils  of  inefficiency  and  inactivity 
aroused  the  country,  the  present  administration  has 
been  as  partisan  as  Jackson's,  and  the  super-man  be 
came  very  human  after  contact  with  mortals  in  the 
councils  at  Paris,  and  a  brush  with  a  Senate  which 
has  resumed  its  constitutional  functions.  It  would 
have  been  better  to  have  cooperated  and  coordinated 
with  Congress  than  to  have  disappointed  America  and 
broken  the  heart  of  the  world  with  superlative  ob 
stinacy. 

POLITICAL  PARTIES  ESSENTIAL' 

Perhaps  it  is  old-fashioned,  maybe  it  seems  to  be  re 
actionary,  but  I  voice  a  deliberate  conviction  that  the 
abandonment  of  government  through  political  parties 
means  the  same  instability  for  us  which  characterizes 
many  Central  American  and  South  American  states, 
or  it  means  an  autocracy  or  dictatorship  which  spells 
the  end  of  our  boasted  republic.  No  one  will  deny 
abuses  and  disappointments  in  our  established  polit 
ical  system,  but  it  made  us  what  we  are,  and  all  the 
world  has  yet  to  match  the  record  of  American  de 
velopment  and  accomplishment.  We  had  better  cor 
rect  the  abuses  than  to  risk  the  abandonment  of  the 
system. 

We  approached  autocracy  during  the  war.  Con 
gress  submerged  itself,  and  surrendered  many  of  its 
functions.  I  am  not  complaining.  It  seemed  neces 
sary,  because  of  our  gigantic  task  of  national  defense, 


WILLIAM  McKINLEY  131 

and  the  supreme  emergency  called  for  a  supreme  com 
mand.  I  do  not  think  William  McKinley  would  have 
asked  it  or  accepted  it,  but  practical  humanity  deals 
with  situations  as  they  have  to  be  met.  We  escaped 
with  only  a  temporary  perversion,  but  the  inclination 
now  to  forsake  party  sponsorship  is  only  another  form 
of  opposition  to  constitutional  government,  more  to 
be  feared  than  those  who  preach  destruction  by  force. 
To  be  sure,  strong  men  are  needed,  but  we  need 
stronger  parties  back  of  them.  You  can't  have  stable 
government  at  the  hands  of  a  political  party  or  a  po 
litical  leadership  which  will  barter  proven  principles 
for  temporary  success,  or  yield  to  the  intimidation  of 
any  group  threatening  to  assert  its  strength  at  the 
polls.  Parties  must  be  held  as  the  agencies  for  the 
expressed  conscience  of  the  majority,  and  they  must 
prevail  or  fail  as  they  merit  it.  In  popular  govern 
ment  they  are  the  agencies  of  education  in  matters  po 
litical. 

RESTORED  PROSPERITY  IN  1896 

An  incident  from  the  career  of  William  McKinley 
affords  a  striking  illustration.  In  1896  the  nation  was 
in  deep  distress.  The  industrial  disaster  was  wide 
spread.  It  seems  like  a  breath  of  changed  air  to  recall 
now  that  our  national  grief  was  low  prices.  The  farm 
ers  in  Kansas  burned  corn  for  fuel,  because  it  didn't 
pay  to  haul  it  to  market.  A  dime  looked  as  big  as  the 
moon,  full-orbed,  and  a  dollar  was  ample  for  a  boasted 
balance  in  the  bank.  I  can  recall  the  wide-spread  an 
guish  over  the  downward  trend.  The  eminent  Ne- 
braskan  preached  his  famous  cure-all  in  the  free  coin 
age  of  silver.  McKinley  had  another  remedy,  though 


132  REDEDICATING  AMERICA 

personally  he  thought  kindly  of  the  double  standard 
of  coinage  as  a  palliative  to  help  reduce  the  patient's 
pain.  Like  the  Republican  that  he  was,  like  every  Re 
publican  ought  to  be,  he  surrendered  his  personal  views 
to  the  judgment  of  the  party  majority,  and  we  turned 
to  the  education  of  the  American  voter.  In  August 
the  country  was  ready  for  the  wrong  medicine,  in  No 
vember  it  voted  for  the  real  cure,  and  there  was  re 
corded  a  victory  for  the  conviction  of  the  Republican 
party  and  the  intelligence  of  the  American  people. 
And  there  was  instant  restoration. 

APOSTLE  OF  PROTECTIVE  TARIFF 

Conditions  change,  new  problems  arise,  new  policies 
are  necessary.  I  had  rather  trust  the  majority  in  any 
party,  even  the  Democratic  party,  than  rely  on  any 
outstanding  personality  in  any  party,  super-man  or 
otherwise.  This  decision  by  the  majority  is  the  un 
derlying  theory  of  representative  popular  government 
and  makes  our  government  sanely  responsive  to  de 
liberate  and  dependable  public  opinion.  If  there  is 
failure  of  our  party  to-day  to  meet  the  fullest  expecta 
tions  of  the  American  people,  it  is  due  in  the  main  to 
the  fact  that  we  have  so-called  Republicans  in  our  ranks 
and  some  of  them  in  authority  who  seek  to  make  the 
party  policy,  and  failing  in  that,  assume  a  superiority 
to  party  judgment.  Such  a  course  not  only  endangers 
party  success  at  the  polls,  but  destroys  party  ef 
fectiveness  in  official  performance.  I  commend  inde 
pendence  and  fearlessness  of  thought,  but  I  invite  the 
party  devotion  of  McKinley  as  the  highest  guaranty 
of  kept  pledges  and  helpful  accomplishment. 


WILLIAM  McKINLEY  133 

Certain  fundamentals  always  abide.  The  supremacy 
of  government  is  one.  The  inspiration  in  nationality 
is  another.  The  necessity  of  successful  business  is 
still  another.  Perhaps  no  public  man  in  all  our  Ameri 
can  development  clung  to  that  belief  more  tenaciously 
than  William  McKinley.  It  made  him  the  apostle  of 
the  protective  tariff.  Men  sneer  at  it  nowadays,  as 
though  we  had  outgrown  the  coddling  period,  and  are 
ready  to  match  our  wits  with  the  world.  We  tried 
it  in  1914,  and  sneers  turned  to  sadness  then,  until 
Europe's  tragedy  cured  our  psychological  grief.  Let 
it  be  called  narrow,  provincial,  selfish,  contrary  to  all 
theory,  whatever  you  like,  in  the  industries  coddled 
under  protection  we  were  independent,  and  in  these 
unprotected  and  undeveloped  the  war  found  us  help 
less,  until  American  genius  turned  to  production  under 
war's  necessity,  and  war's  barriers  of  tragic  protection. 
We  know  now  the  value  of  American  self-dependence, 
and  I  speak  for  one  who  believes  it  sane  Americanism 
now  to  safeguard  the  industries  developed  in  war  to 
add  to  our  eminence  and  independence  in  peace,  and 
to  hold  all  American  industry  as  of  first  concern  and 
of  first  importance  in  guaranteeing  the  good  fortunes 
of  the  American  people. 

It  is  utterly  wrong  to  assume  we  have  reached  the 
heights  of  American  development.  There  is  an  inter 
esting  analogy  between  pioneering  in  settlement  and 
pioneering  in  developing  industry.  Under  the  westward 
march  of  the  star  of  empire,  the  stalwart  men  who 
were  bent  on  achievement  took  advantage  of  produc 
tive  resources,  and  built  temporarily  and  speeded  to 
production  amid  waste,  because  production  was  neces- 


134  REDEDICATING  AMERICA  ' 

sary  to  subsistence  and  essential  to  permanence.  One 
may  fairly  trace  the  developing  stage  across  the  con 
tinent,  with  improvement  and  permanency  superseding 
the  hurried  things  of  the  hopeful  beginning.  It  is  a 
fair  criticism  of  American  industry  that  our  first  con 
cern  was  quantity.  I  want  to  hail  the  day  when  we  can 
do  more  than  boast  America  as  the  greatest  producer, 
I  want  our  country  the  best  producer  in  all  the  world. 

HIS  LEADERSHIP  IS  INSPIRATION 

In  some  things  we  do  excel.  I  remember  a  very 
great  pride,  during  a  European  visit  some  years  ago, 
to  see  American  shoes  exhibited  in  the  show  windows 
of  the  great  cities  as  the  "best  in  the  world."  Prob 
ably  we  shall  never  excel  in  all  production ;  that  would 
be  the  attainment  of  the  miraculous,  but  I  want  to  live 
to  see  the  day  when  an  American  buyer  asks  for  the 
best  he  will  not  be  shown  something  imported.  It 
is  a  desirable  attainment  for  a  greater  reason  than 
pride  of  country.  It  must  be  the  inspiration  of  the 
American  worker.  There  isn't  much  impelling  a  work 
man  in  mere  quantity  production,  in  the  mere  grind 
for  wage,  but  there  is  soul  in  doing  a  thing  best.  If 
one  thing  is  needed  more  than  another  in  the  ranks 
of  industry,  it  is  pride  in  production  and  the  spirit 
of  attainment. 

In  the  McKinley  policy  there  is  every  possibility 
and  every  encouragement.  We  have  the  higher  stand 
ards  of  living,  and  mean  to  maintain  them.  World 
wages  haven't  been  leveled,  and  never  will  be  until 
Old- World  standards  are  raised  to  ours. 


WILLIAM  McKINLEY  135 


MEMORY  GIVES  CONFIDENCE 

We  shall  never  know  the  pre-war  level  of  wage 
again,  never  the  old-time  proportions  of  wages  and 
profits.  I  have  been  engaged  in  business  in  a  modest 
way  for  thirty-five  years  and  have  never  known  a  re 
duction  of  wages.  The  tendency  is  ever  higher,  and 
ought  to  be.  Nothing  avails,  however,  if  living  cost 
is  kept  apace  with  the  mounting  wage.  Thrift  will 
help.  More  production  and  less  extravagance  will 
help.  A  sober  thought  of  the  morrow  will  aid  still 
more. 

Business  must  and  will  yield  more  of  its  profits  to 
those  participating  in  their  production,  but  business 
must  be  given  its  meed  of  just  consideration.  It  can't 
sustain  a  government  which  is  drunken  in  expenditure 
and  keeps  step  to  the  Bolshevist  anthem  at  the  same 
time,  and  still  perform  its  functions  in  health  and 
sanity.  There  is  a  finer  conscience  in  business  in 
America  to-day  than  has  ever  been  revealed,  in  spite 
of  the  continued  profiteering  amid  a  saturnalia  of  ex 
penditure,  and  we  are  sure  to  get  right  because  the 
heart  of  America  is  right. 

I  like  to  look  forward  with  the  confidence  and  hope 
of  him  whose  memory  we  honor  to-night.  I  know 
how  he  believed  in  the  republic,  how  sure  he  was  of 
the  deliberate  good  sense  of  the  American  people.  I 
krtow  what  his  admonition  would  be — "Americans, 
frlht  face,  march  on;  let  us  make  this  republic  the 
cor1  summation  of  freedom  and  freedom's  hopes  and 
aspirations !" 


CHAPTER  VIII 
GEORGE  WASHINGTON 

Address  Delivered  February  22,  ipi8,  at  Washington's 

Birthday  Celebration  before  the  Sons  and 

Daughters  of  the  Revolution,  at 

Washington,  D.  C. 


MR.  PRESIDENT,  MADAM  PRESIDENT,  YOUR  EXCEL 
LENCIES,  SONS  AND  DAUGHTERS  OF  THE  REVOLUTION, 
LADIES  AND  GENTLEMEN,  MY  COUNTRYMEN — I  have 
been  sensing  the  atmosphere  of  this  patriotic  occasion 
and  the  significance  of  this  celebration. 

It  is  good  to  meet  and  drink  at  the  fountains  of 
wisdom  inherited  from  the  founding  fathers  of  the 
republic.  It  is  a  fitting  time  for  retrospection  and  in 
trospection  when  we  face  a  problem  to-day  even  greater 
than  the  miracle  they  wrought.  The  comparison  does 
not  belittle  their  accomplishment.  Nothing  in  all  his 
tory  surpasses  their  achievement.  The  miracle  was 
not  the  victory  for  independence.  The  stupendous 
thing  was  the  successful  establishment  of  the  republic. 
There  they  were,  spent  and  bleeding,  in  the  very  chaos 
of  newly  found  freedom;  there  they  were,  with  ideas 
conflicting,  interests  varied,  jealousies  threatening, 
and  selfishness  impelling;  there  they  were,  without 
having  visualized  nationality.  They  had  contended 

136 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON  137 

only  for  liberty,  and  when  it  was  obtained  they  found 
a  nation  to  be  the  necessary  means  of  its  preservation. 

FOUNDERS  DIVINELY  INSPIRED 

With  commanding  patriotism  and  lofty  statesman 
ship,  with  heroic  sacrifice  and  deep-penetrating  fore 
sight,  they  founded  what  we  had  come  to  believe  the 
first  seemingly  dependable  popular  government  on  the 
face  of  the  earth.  I  can  believe  they  were  divinely 
inspired.  In  the  reverent  retrospection  I  can  believe 
that  destiny  impelled.  Surely  there  was  the  guiding 
hand  of  divinity  itself,  conscious  of  sublime  purpose. 

They  not  only  wrought  union  and  concord  out  of 
division  and  discord,  but  they  established  a  represent 
ative  democracy,  and  for  the  first  time  in  the  history 
of  the  world  wrote  civil  liberty  into  the  fundamental 
law.  On  this  civil  liberty  is  builded  the  temple  of 
human  liberty,  and  through  this  representative  govern 
ment  we  Americans  have  wrought  to  the  astonishment 
of  the  world.  More,  on  the  unfailing  foundation  of 
civil  liberty  they  established  orderly  government,  the 
most  precious  possession  of  all  civilization,  and  made 
justice  its  highest  purpose. 

DEVELOPED  AMERICAN  SOUL 

Mark  you,  they  were  not  reforming  the  world.  They 
had  dearly  bought  the  freedom  of  a  new  people;  they 
reared  new  standards  of  liberty;  they  consecrated 
themselves  to  equal  rights,  then  sought  to  establish 
the  highest  guaranty  of  them  all.  They  had  the  vision 
to  realize  that  no  dependable  government  could  be 
founded  on  ephemeral  popular  opinion.  They  knew 


138  REDEDICATING  AMERICA 

that  thinking,  intelligent,  deliberate,  public  opinion 
in  due  time  would  write  any  statute  that  justice  in 
spired.  They  knew  that  no  pure  democracy,  with 
political  power  measured  by  physical  might,  ever  had 
endured;  that  neither  the  autocrat  with  usurped  or 
granted  power,  nor  the  mass  in  impassioned  committal 
could  maintain  liberty  and  justice  or  bestow  their 
limitless  blessings.  So  they  fashioned  their  triumphs, 
their  hopes,  their  aspirations,  and  their  convictions 
into  the  Constitution  of  the  representative  republic; 
they  made  justice  the  crowning  figure  on  the  surpassing 
temple,  and  stationed  beckoning  opportunity  at  the 
door — equal  opportunity,  let  me  say — and  bade  the 
world  to  come  and  be  welcome ;  and  the  world  came — 
the  down-trodden  and  the  oppressed,  the  adventurous 
and  ambitious — and  they  drank  freely  of  the  waters 
of  our  political  life,  and  stood  erect  and  achieved,  each 
according  to  his  merits  or  his  industry,  his  talents  or 
his  genius.  Generous  in  their  rejoicing,  the  fathers 
neglected  to  establish  the  altars  of  consecration  at 
the  threshold.  Eager  to  develop  our  measureless  re 
sources,  anxious  to  have  humanity  come  and  partake 
freely  of  New- World  liberty,  they  asked  no  dedication 
at  the  portals.  They  developed  an  American  soul  in 
their  own  sacrifices  for  liberty,  but  neglected  to  de 
mand  soul  consecration  before  participation  on  the 
part  of  those  who  came  to  share  their  triumphs. 

We  have  come  to  realize  the  oversight  now.  We 
have  come  to  find  our  boasted  popular  government 
put  to  the  crucial  test  in  defending  its  national  rights. 
We  met  with  no  such  problem  in  the  Civil  War.  That 
was  a  destined  conflict  between  Americans  of  the  two 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON  139 

Schools  of  political  thought,  which  was  the  final  test 
in  maintaining  nationality.  There  was  like  passion  for 
country  on  either  side  of  that  great  struggle,  but  the 
dross  in  the  misdirected  passion  for  disunion  was 
burned  away  in  the  crucible  of  fire  and  blood,  and  the 
pure  gold  turned  into  shining  stars  in  dear  Old  Glory 
again.  We  settled  rights  to  nationality  among  our 
selves.  We  are  fighting  to-day  for  the  unalterable 
rights  which  are  inherent  in  nationality,  without  which 
no  self-respecting  nation  could  hope  to  survive,  and 
for  which  any  nation  refusing  to  fight  does  not  de 
serve  to  survive. 

DUTY  TO  PRESERVE  REPUBLIC 

We  have  the  duty  to  preserve  the  inherited  covenant 
of  the  fathers;  we  have  the  obligation  to  hand  on  to 
succeeding  generations  the  very  republic  which  we  in 
herited.  If  this  generation  will  not  sacrifice  and  suffer 
in  this  crisis  of  the  world,  the  republic  is  doomed. 
If  this  fortunate  people  can  not  prove  popular  govern 
ment  capable  of  defense  in  a  war  for  national  rights, 
popular  government  fails.  If  the  impudent  assumption 
of  world  domination  is  not  thwarted  by  the  entente 
allies  and  this  people,  then  civilization  itself  is  de 
feated.  Never  since  the  world  began  has  any  nation 
been  able  to  dominate  the  world.  A  mighty,  righteous 
people  may  influence  and  help  mankind,  and  I  have 
wished  that  noble  task  for  this  republic,  but  domina 
tion  is  for  God  alone,  and  His  agency  is  the  universal 
brotherhood  of  man. 

There  is  one  compensation  in  the  very  beginning. 
We  are  finding  ourselves.  From  this  day  henceforth 


140  REDEDICATING  AMERICA 

we  are  to  be  an  American  people  in  fact  as  well  as 
name.  Consecration  to  America  is  the  deliberate  and 
unalterable  decree.  The  dedicating  altars  are  erected 
and  are  free  as  liberty  itself.  Now  and  hereafter  the 
individual,  no  matter  who  he  is  or  whence  he  comes, 
who  proclaims  himself  an  American  and  fattens  his 
existence  on  American  opportunity,  must  be  an  Ameri 
can  in  his  heart  and  soul.  More,  the  American  of 
to-day,  to-morrow,  and  so  long  as  the  republic  endures 
and  triumphs,  must  be  schooled  to  the  duties  of  citizen 
ship  which  go  with  the  privileges  and  advantages 
thereof,  and  men  and  women  of  America  are  to  find 
what  they  can  do  for  orderly  government  instead  of 
seeking  what  it  can  do  for  them. 

ADVICE  OF  WASHINGTON 

Solemnly,  my  countrymen,  this  is  an  epoch  in  human 
affairs.  The  world  is  in  upheaval.  There  is  more 
than  war  and  its  measureless  cost.  Civilization  is  in  a 
fluid  state.  All  existent  forms  of  government  are  being 
tested,  and  the  very  fundamentals  of  human  achieve 
ment  are  in  question.  In  this  hour  of  reverent  mem 
ory  for  the  beloved  father  of  our  country,  in  this  whole 
some  retrospection  of  the  miracle  wrought  by  the 
founders,  in  the  hurried  contemplation  of  the  marvel 
ous  achievements  of  our  people  to  whom  they  gave 
an  immortal  beginning,  let  us  strive  to  appreciate  their 
wisdom  and  our  good  fortune  and  commit  ourselves 
anew  to  the  essential  preservation. 

I  wonder  what  the  great  Washington  would  utter 
in  warning,  in  his  passionate  love  of  the  republic  and 
his  deep  concern  about  future  welfare,  if  he  could 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON  141 

know  the  drift  of  to-day?  In  his  undying  farewell 
address  his  repeated  anxiety  was  concerning  jealousies 
and  heart-burnings  which  spring  from  distrust  and 
factional  misrepresentations — "they  tend  to  rend  alien 
to  each  other  those  who  ought  to  be  bound  together 
by  fraternal  affection." 

And  he  warned  us  that  "respect  for  authority,  com 
pliance  with  its  laws,  acquiescence  in  its  measures 
are  duties  enjoined  by  the  fundamental  maxims  of 
true  liberty."  "Liberty  itself  will  find  in  such  a 
government,  with  powers  properly  distributed  and  ad 
justed,  its  surest  guardian.  It  is,  indeed,  little  less 
than  a  name  where  the  government  is  too  feeble  to 
withstand  the  enterprises  of  faction  .  .  .  and  to 
maintain  all  in  the  secure  and  tranquil  enjoyment 
of  rights  and  property." 

Alluding  to  parties  more  comparable  to  factions  in 
our  citizenship  of  the  present  day  he  warned  against 
"the  spirit  having  its  root  in  the  strongest  passions 
of  the  human  mind.  It  exists  in  all  governments, 
more  or  less  stifled,  controlled  or  repressed,  but  in 
those  of  popular  form  it  is  seen  in  its  greatest  rankness, 
and  is  truly  their  worst  enemy." 

FACTIONALISM  DECRIED 

In  our  mighty  development  we  have  added  to  the 
perils  of  which  Washington  warned.  The  danger  has 
not  been  in  party  association,  but  in  party  appeal  or 
surrender  to  faction.  There  has  been  no  partisan 
politics  in  our  war  preparation.  On  the  contrary,  par 
tisan  lines  have  been  effaced  to  close  up  the  ranks  in 
patriotic  devotion.  But  factions  have  grown  more 


142  REDEDICATING  AMERICA 

menacing  and  hold  their  factional  designs  more  neces 
sary  than  patriotic  consecration. 

It  is  characteristic  of  popular  government,  and  its 
weakness,  that  there  is  more  appeal  to  popularity  than 
concern  for  the  common  weal.  Too  many  men  in 
public  life  are  more  concerned  about  ballots  than  the 
bulwarks  of  free  institutions.  Our  growth,  our  diver 
sification,  our  nation-wide  communication,  our  profit- 
bearing  selfishness — these  have  filled  the  land  with 
organized  factions,  not  geographical,  as  Washington 
so  much  feared,  but  commercial,  industrial,  agri 
cultural  and  professional,  each  seeking  to  promote 
the  interests  of  its  own,  not  without  justification  at 
times,  but  often  a  menace  in  exacting  privilege  or 
favor  through  the  utterance  of  political  threats.  If 
popular  government  is  to  survive  it  must  grant  exact 
justice  to  all  men  and  fear  none.  If  law  is  to  be 
respected  and  government  remain  supreme,  legislation 
must  be  for  all  the  people,  not  for  the  few  of  vast 
fortune  or  its  influences,  or  the  few  of  commanding 
activity  and  their  assumptions,  or  the  many  who  may 
assert  political  power  in  accordance  with  numerical 
strength.  The  republic  is  of  all  the  people,  equal  in 
their  claims  to  civil  liberty  and  the  grant  of  oppor 
tunity,  aye,  and  its  righteous  rewards.  The  anxieties 
of  world  conflict  and  the  inevitable  alterations  must 
not  blind  us  to  the  tasks  of  preservation. 

If  the  war  is  to  make  of  us,  or  of  any  national 
votary  of  modified  democracy,  an  impotent  people, 
paralyzed  by  revolutionary  reform,  it  is  not  worth  the 
winning.  If  this  world  tumult  is  to  leave  wrecked 
hopes  like  that  of  chaotic  Russia  to  prove  that  autpc-r 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON  143 

racy  and  unintelligent  democracy  have  a  common 
infamy,  then  civilization  must  have  its  purification  in  a 
penitence  of  failure  and  wrecked  hopes  and  unspeak 
able  sacrifices,  until  God  in  His  mercy  and  wisdom 
restores  sanity  to  mankind  and  admonishes  men  to 
achievement  over  the  proven  paths  of  human  progress. 
No  thinking  man  can  ignore  the  changes  which  war 
is  working.  But  surely  there  is  a  righteous  mean 
between  the  extremes  of  the  expiring  adherents  of 
autocracy  and  the  intoxicated  radicals  of  deceived  and 
demoralized  democracy.  Let's  prove  the  republic  the 
highest  agency  of  humanity's  just  aspirations. 

TO  PRESERVE  NATIONAL  RIGHTS 

My  countrymen,  I  am  not  crying  out  in  a  wilderness 
of  pessimism,  I  am  uttering  a  warning  that  comes  of 
love  for  the  republic.  Let  us  go  on,  no  matter  what  be 
tides,  to  the  dependable  establishment  of  our  national 
rights  and  the  safety  of  our  peoples ;  yes,  and  the  sus 
tained  hands  of  justice  among  the  peoples  of  the 
earth.  We  are  no  longer  able  to  hold  aloof,  and  the 
world  must  be  made  safe  to  live  in.  Let  us  prove  our 
unity — the  common  purpose  and  the  unalterable  pur 
pose  of  all  Americans  to  do  that — and  then  let  us  dedi 
cate  ourselves  in  unity  and  concord  and  the  same  un 
alterable  resolution  to  the  preservation  of  the  inherited 
republic.  I  could  utter  a  prayer  for  an  American 
benediction,  to  bestow  on  us  the  wisdom,  the  devotion, 
the  faith,  and  the  willingness  to  sacrifice,  which 
strengthened  the  fathers  in  their  mighty  tasks.  I  wish 
we  might  dwell  in  their  simplicity  and  frugality  and 
the  freedom  from  envy  which  attended.  I  wish  I 


144  REDEDICATING  AMERICA 

might  end  the  extravagance  of  government  and  of  indi 
vidual  life  which  adds  to  unrest  and  rends  our  strength. 
It  is  our  besetting  sin.  We  need  as  much  sober 
thought  about  what  we  spend  as  we  need  agitation 
about  what  we  earn  in  every  walk  of  life.  No  people 
shod  in  $18  shoes  is  equipped  for  the  conquering  march 
of  civilization. 

JVe  do  not  proclaim  ours  the  perfect  republic,  nor 
yet  the  ideal  popular  government,  but  we  do  maintain 
it  is  the  best  and  the  freest  that  the  world  has  ever 
known,  and  under  it  mankind  has  advanced  and 
achieved  as  under  none  other  since  civilization  dawned, 
and  in  good  conscience  and  consecrated  citizenship 
and  abiding  faith  and  high  hope  we  mean,  with  God's 
good  guidance,  to  go  on  to  the  fulfillment  of  the 
highest  American  destiny. 


CHAPTER  IX 
ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

Addrtss  before  Lincoln  Club,  Portland,  Main& 
February  13,  1920 

DESTINY  made  Lincoln  the  agency  6f  the  fulfillment, 
held  the  inherited  covenant  inviolate  and  gave  him  to 
the  ages.  No  words  can  magnify  or  worship  glorify. 

We  are  recalling  him  to-night  to  bring  ourselves  to 
a  fuller  understanding  and  a  keener  appreciation  of 
the  legacy  of  his  martyrdom.  I  like  to  recall  him  as 
a  Republican.  In  the  majesty  of  his  memory,  men  of 
all  parties  quote  him,  but  no  American  ever  lived 
who  believed  more  in  his  party,  or  who  had  stronger 
convictions  of  the  necessity  of  political  parties  as  the 
agencies  of  popular  government.  He  believed  our 
government  to  rest  in  public  opinion,  but  looked  to 
his  party  as  the  vehicle  for  expressing  that  opinion. 
He  did  not  value  the  ephemeral  opinions  of  a  day, 
nor  the  clamor  of  haste;  he  clung  to  the  convictions 
which  could  appeal  to  the  judgment  of  posterity.  He 
was  neither  opportunist  nor  advocate  of  expediency. 
He  was  mighty  in  conviction  and  clung  to  the  Consti 
tution  and  the  supremacy  of  law  as  sole  assurance  of 
maintained  civilization  and  national  life. 

145 


146  REDEDICATING  AMERICA  v 


DUTY  OF  CITIZENSHIP 

In  his  day  there  was  unrevealed  the  modern  prob 
lem  of  the  foreign  born.  In  his  day  the  emigrant 
voyaged  to  citizenship,  and  came  to  participate,  and 
was  promptly  received  into  the  accepted  responsibil 
ities  of  citizenship.  If  he  lived  to-day,  with  his  great 
heart  athrob  for  the  future  stability  of  the  republic, 
I  can  fancy  him  crying  out  that  there  are  no  privileges 
of  American  citizenship  except  for  those  who  assume 
its  duties,  and  there  is  no  room  anywhere  in  free 
America  except  for  those  who  subscribe  to  orderly 
government  under  the  law. 

Lincoln  the  nationalist  could  never  have  been  an 
internationalist.  Through  four  years  of  an  imperiled 
republic  he  maintained  the  foreign  relations  inspired 
by  the  fathers.  No  one  questions  his  towering  great 
ness,  no  one  challenges  that  he  was  astep  with  highest 
human  progress,  yet  he  revered  Washington  and  held 
his  teachings  to  be  sacredly  important.  He  would 
dim  no  light  of  experience  to  fix  his  course  by  a  light 
he  knew  not  of.  Perhaps  we  never  shall  know  all  of 
the  tact  and  all  the  wisdom  employed  in  preserving 
uninvolved  relations  when  the  world  found  it  difficult 
to  adjust  commercial  selfishness  to  seeming  neutrality. 
How  practical  he  was  to  arrange  for  the  impressive 
visit  of  the  Russian  fleet  in  an  hour  of  growing  peril, 
and  end  the  obligation  promptly  by  paying  the  ex 
penses  in  the  added  price  paid  for  the  purchase  of 
Alaska!  He  believed  in  the  people,  but  he  cloaked 
that  transaction  because  its  revealment  would  have 
added  to  war's  complications. 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  147 


EXPONENT  OF  NATIONALITY 

I  do  not  believe  Lincoln  would  have  this  expanded 
and  enriched  republic  of  more  than  a  hundred  millions 
hold  aloof  from  the  world,  or  avoid  a  single  duty  in 
furthering  world  civilization.  His  heart  would  have 
rejoiced  at  our  part  in  halting  the  military  autocracy 
of  Germany  in  its  ruthless  pursuit  of  world  domina 
tion.  I  think  he  would  have  speeded  the  righteous 
resistance  of  the  abridgment  of  our  national  rights. 
I  am  sure  the  distressed  condition  of  the  Old  World 
to-day  would  touch  his  great  heart,  as  it  has  all 
humanity's,  but  I  am  very  certain  he  would  never  sur 
render  the  nationality  for  which  he  sacrificed  and 
fought  to  any  supergovernment  of  the  world,  no 
matter  what  its  title  or  its  purposes  might  be.  He 
would  cling  to  the  American  conscience  as  the  guiding 
light  of  a  confident  republic. 

He  was  a  believer  in  opportunity  as  the  highest  of 
fering  of  free  America.  It  was  his  belief  that  "every 
American  should  have  a  fair  start  and  an  unfettered 
chance  in  the  race  for  life."  That  was  the  doctrine 
of  Jefferson  in  his  proclaimed  equal  rights,  that  was 
the  policy  of  Hamilton  who  demanded  a  government 
strong  enough  to  guarantee  them.  That  was  the 
"square  deal"  of  Theodore  Roosevelt.  That  was  the 
Golden  Rule  of  the  "Man  of  Nazareth." 

AMERICA  AFFORDS  EQUAL  OPPORTUNITY 

It  is  America's  supreme  offering  to-day — equal  op 
portunity  to  all  men  and  reward  as  they  merit  it.  Civil 
liberty  protects  them  in  righteous  acquirement.  Any- 


148  REDEDICATING  AMERICA  * 

thing  less  is  an  abridgment  of  liberty.  Men  must 
achieve  according  to  their  talents,  according  to  the 
metal  that  is  in  them,  else  there  is  no  human  progress. 
The  adopted  standards  of  mediocrity  would  halt  all 
human  progress. 

Class  legislation  is  likewise  a  perversion  of  liberty 
and  class  domination  puts  an  end  to  liber ty's  justice. 
Let  us  hold  our  America  the  republic  that  Lincoln 
preserved  for  posterity,  freedom  under  the  Constitu 
tion,  security  under  the  law,  and  stability  under  the 
law's  unchallenged  supremacy. 


CHAPTER  X 
PENERAL  GRANT'S  REPUBLICANISM 

Address  at  Grant  Dinner,  Middlesex  Club,  Boston, 
Massachusetts,  1916 

GENTLEMEN  OF  THE  MIDDLESEX  CLUB — When  Gen 
eral  Grant  was  at  Spottsylvania,  facing  obstacles  and 
discouragements  which  would  have  halted  any  other 
commander  of  Union  forces,  he  took  note  of  his,  ap 
palling  losses  of  general  officers  and  men  in  the  ranks 
observed  anew  his  surroundings,  saw  the  horrifying 
conflicts  yet  to  come,  assured  himself  of  certainty  of 
ultimate  triumph,  then  penned  his  letter  to  General 
Halleck,  which  proclaimed  the  Union  ultimately  re 
stored.  It  was  typical  of  the  simplicity  and  the  unal 
terable  determination  of  this  rugged,  silent  leader  to 
say  that  "I  propose  to  fight  it  out  on  this  line  if  it  takes 
all  summer."  It  did  take  all  summer,  but  he  knew  he 
was  right,  and  pushed  on  and  on,  irresistibly  on  until 
disunion  at  Bull  Run  was  turned  to  reunion  at  Appo- 
mattox.  There  is  no  finer  instance  of  conscientious 
conviction  and  unswerving  purpose  in  all  the  making 
of  American  history,  and  I  would  have  the  great  po 
litical  party  to  which  General  Grant  belonged,  and  with 
which  he  served,  gather  inspiration  and  assurance 
from  his  memory  and  example. 

We  were  everlastingly  right  in  the  principles  for 
149 


150"         "  REDEMCATINGT  AMERICA ' 

which  we  contended  when  disunion  rended  our  useful 
ness  in  1912.  We  believed  in  the  fundamental  prin 
ciples  then  for  which  we  stand  to-day,  and  we  purpose 
to  hold  the  charter  of  Republicanism  inviolate,  just 
as  Grant  fought  to  preserve  the  ark  of  the  American 
political  covenant.  We  stand  to-day,  as  in  the  party's 
beginning,  committed  to  the  fundamental  principle  of 
representative  democracy  and  the  American  policy  of 
tariff  protection,  and  we  mean  to  fight  it  out  on  these 
lines  "if  it  takes  all  summer,"  this  year  and  next. 
Millions  of  volunteer  enlistments  are  awaiting  the 
call,  and  everywhere,  north,  south,  east  and  west,  is 
manifest  eagerness  to  see  the  Republican  reunion,  con 
fident  that  Republican  victory  means  the  country's 
restoration. 

No  sign  above  the  political  horizon  was  ever  so  con 
spicuous — the  Republican  party  is  coming  back  in  a 
sweeping  national  victory.  Mark  you,  there  is  no  doubt 
about  the  ultimate  result.  The  Republican  party  is 
coming  back  because  it  is  once  more  proved  to  be 
right,  because  the  country  needs  Republican  policies 
and  attending  good  fortune,  because  Republican  ca 
pacity  to  construct  and  administer  to  the  highest  ad 
vantage  of  the  American  people  has  been  magnified 
anew  by  the  chastening  which  always  attends  a  Demo 
cratic  administration. 

POLITICAL  PRINCIPLES  IMPORTANT 

Political  whims  and  popular  personalities  will  come 
and  go,  but  a  political  principle  stands  everlastingly 
true;  sometimes  it  is  obscured  by  the  passing  storm, 
but  it  stands  like  a  beacon  unchanging,  to  guide  the 


GRANT'S  REPUBLICANISM  151 

pilots  of  nations.  It  is  consistent  devotion  to  principle 
which  holds  the  Republican  party  as  the  hope  and 
promise  of  the  American  people  to-day.  Thoughtful 
observers  believed  they  saw  the  end  in  1912.  But 
when  the  atmosphere  was  cleared  of  the  conflicts  of 
personalities  and  the  resort  to  expediencies  and  sur 
render  to  exigencies  and  appeals  to  prejudices,  there 
loomed  the  monuments  of  Republican  constructive- 
ness,  there  stood  the  foundations  on  which  to  rebuild. 
The  Republican  party  endures  because  of  its  unal 
terable  faith  in  our  representative  form  of  govern 
ment,  as  conceived  by  the  inspired  fathers,  upon  whose 
foundation  we  have  builded  to  surpassing  national 
glory.  We  believe  in  representative  democracy  as 
adopted  in  the  Federal  Constitution,  and  proclaim  it  to 
be  the  highest  and  best  form  and  plan  of  a  people's 
rule  ever  fashioned  by  mankind  for  the  commonweal. 
We  believe  that  upon  this  principle  we  have  made 
orderly  progress  and  unequaled  advancement,  until 
the  record  of  that  progress  is  the  greatest  heritage  of 
American  citizenship.  We  believe  sincerely  in  the  rule 
of  the  people,  not  through  unthinkingly  broadened  re 
sponsibilities,  but  through  the  conscience-driven,  rea 
soning  exercise  of  a  citizenship  made  sovereign  from 
the  beginning. 

EQUAL  OPPORTUNITY  IS  BASIS 

Equal  rights  and  equal  opportunity  were  proclaimed 
at  the  very  start — Liberty's  first  contributions  to  the 
federal  foundation — they  have  been  sacredly  main 
tained,  and  in  their  exercise  our  people  have  wrought 
to  the  astonishment  of  all  the  nations  of  civilization. 


152  REDEDICATING  AMERICA 

Though  Jefferson  was  their  conspicuous  advocate, he 
was  no  more  influential  in  their  establishment  than 
Franklin,  who  insisted  on  safeguarding  by  constitu 
tional  provision,  and  Hamilton,  who  demanded  a  na 
tionality  ample  to  guarantee  them.  Thus  was  the  Re 
publican  party  consecrated  to  these  indestructible 
principles  by  its  Federalist  forebears,  and  reconse 
crated  by  that  martyred  hero  who  saved  the  nation — 
Abraham  Lincoln.  He  said  we  are  for  "a  fair  start 
and  an  unfettered  chance  in  the  race  of  life,"  and  the 
Republican  party  holds  to  the  same  doctrine,  unalter 
ably  to-day.  Turn  specifically  to  the  birth  of  the  Re 
publican  party,  and  the  record  recites  its  committal  to 
the  cause  of  human  rights  at  the  altar  of  its  christ 
ening;  it  has  been  consistent  and  sincere  in  every  re 
iteration  ;  points  to  performance  to  prove  the  wisdom 
of  its  promises;  may  always  cite  its  pledges  kept  as  an 
index  to  party  conscience,  and  finds  the  reflex  of  its 
unwavering  progression  in  the  American  standard  of 
living  and  the  matchless  story  of  American  accom 
plishment.  We  opened  to  equal  rights  and  equal  op 
portunities  the  avenues  of  reward.  Our  party  exalted 
human  rights  by  providing  conditions  for  higher  at 
tainment.  We  could  not  revise  human  nature  nor 
abolish  greed ;  we  could  not  stamp  out  envy  nor  elimi 
nate  selfishness,  nor  eradicate  jealousy;  we  could  not 
establish  the  equality  of  capacity  or  reward.  But  we 
did  apply  the  best  of  thought  and  honest  intent  to  the 
solutions  of  problems  that  attend  exceptional  growth, 
and  mean  to  go  on,  deliberately,  orderly,  conscien 
tiously,  yielding  not  to  prejudice  nor  passion,  but 
strengthening  the  weak  in  the  supremacy  of  law,  al- 


GRANT'S  REPUBLICANISM  153 

ways  avoiding  destruction,  where  possible,  seeking  to 
cure  and  preserve,  always  advancing  to  the  ideal  over 
safe  and  proven  paths. 

Looking  back  now,  when  the  reflective  vision  is  un 
impaired,  I  venture  to  say  that  the  country  and  our 
political  parties  need  a  new  baptism  of  truth.  We 
were  aware  of  mistaken  attitudes  and  unapproved 
practises  in  our  party  in  1912,  not  without  extenuating 
circumstances,  however,  but  we  were  too  wrought  up 
by  conflict  to  cure  in  needed  deliberation.  We  had 
keener  vision  for  national  perils  than  for  party  weak 
ness.  We  endangered  our  party  system  by  the  abuse 
of  it,  and  we  needed  awakening  to  the  truth  to  effect 
a  cure.  Inspired  by  the  country's  call  for  a  Republi 
can  return,  we  shall  be  strongly  equipped  in  a  new 
consecration  to  everlasting  truth,  and  let  the  Demo 
cratic  party  revel  in  expediency  and  new  paramounts 
which  invariably  lead  to  disappointment.  There  was 
the  double  lure  of  expediency  in  1912,  and  the  con 
fusion  of  double  opposition.  The  combination  put  the 
Democratic  party  in  power,  and  routed  the  Republican 
forces,  but  the  ultimate  result  is  the  awakening  of  the 
country  to  a  realization  of  the  indissoluble  relation  be 
tween  Republican  policies  and  a  people's  good  fortune. 

REPUBLICANISM    MEANS  PROSPERITY 

It  seems  characteristic  of  our  American  life  that  we 
must  have  periodical  Democratic  paralysis  to  bring  us 
to  appreciation  of  the  healthful  glow  of  Republican 
activity.  I  am  thinking  of  1892  and  1896.  After  that 
visitation  of  Democratic  disaster  and  depression, 
wrought  in  the  name  of  cheapness  and  the  freedom  of 


REDEDICATING  AMERICA 


buying  in  the  markets  of  the  world,  there  came  a 
fevered  frenzy  to  banish  a  symptom  rather  than  re 
move  a  cause.  The  people  believed  we  needed  more 
and  cheaper  money.  Mr.  Bryan's  cross  of  gold  loomed 
up  like  a  flaming  comet  and  harbinger  of  destruction. 
But  the  Republican  party  clung  to  the  truth,  it  pro 
claimed  the  cause  and  offered  a  cure,  and  an  under 
standing  people  went  to  the  ballot-box  and  took  Mr. 
Bryan's  crown  of  thorns  and  transformed  it  into  a 
wreath  of  bloom,  redolent  of  the  perfume  of  abundant 
prosperity,  and  placed  it  on  the  brow  of  that  greatest 
of  all  apostles  of  protection,  the  revered  and  trusted 
William  McKinley. 

The  situation  is  analogous  to-day,  and  the  Repub 
lican  party  will  cling  to  a  great,  saving  truth.  If  we 
have  one  distinguishing  characteristic  above  all  others, 
ours  is  the  party  of  protection.  Under  its  banner  our 
party  has  achieved  its  most  notable  triumphs  and 
wrought  the  greatest  good  fortune  to  the  American 
people.  Any  surrender  or  apologetic  modification  will 
dim  our  most  glorious  identity.  Not  all  the  country 
wanted  the  abandonment  of  a  protective  tariff.  Owing 
to  the  mutterings  of  selfishness,  which  can  not  be 
escaped,  no  matter  how  loftily  we  aim,  part  of  the 
people  thought  we  ought  to  "sharpen  our  wits  in  com 
petition  with  the  world,"  but  it  was  a  minority  which 
voted  for  the  new  freedom  which  soon  became  an  old 
and  unhappy  idleness.  But  Democracy  delivered  and 
a  nation  was  distressed. 

But  Democracy  did  not  deliver  the  expected  lower 
ing  of  prices,  because  sixteen  years  of  Republican 


GRANT'S  REPUBLICANISM  155 

good  fortune  had  established  a  higher  standard  of 
living,  and  with  it  a  higher  capacity  to  live,  and  the 
fulness  of  Democratic  destruction  was  averted  by  the 
cataclysm  of  European  war,  which  saved  us  from  the 
competition  against  which  the  Democratic  party  would 
not  protect  us.  Last  year,  when  the  situation  was 
new  and  little  understood,  President  Wilson  shifted 
the  responsibility  for  retarded  activities  from  psycho 
logical  depression  to  the  effects  of  war.  The  actual 
truth  challenges  contradiction — the  European  war  has 
given  the  only  impetus  that  has  marked  production  in 
the  United  States  since  the  passage  of  the  Underwood 
tariff,  and  it  is  said  without  rejoicing.  Our  people 
do  not  want  to  prosper  at  the  bloody  sacrifice  of  the 
brave  men  in  Europe,  locked  in  the  conflict  of  horrify 
ing  war ;  our  aspirations  are  in  the  triumphs  of  peace. 
We  want  the  good  fortunes  that  come  of  American 
markets  for  Americans,  with  our  higher  wages,  higher 
standards  and  larger  capacity  to  buy.  We  have  proven 
again  and  again  the  beneficence  of  protection,  and  our 
people,  again  awakened  to  appreciation,  want  the  pol 
icy  restored.  Nobody  pretends  that  any  Republican 
tariff  law  has  been  perfect,  but  none  has  ever  been 
destructive.  I  choose  a  tariff  law  like  Methodist  liber 
ality  in  baptism — sprinkling  at  least,  pouring  if  one 
believes  that  way,  immersion  if  necessary,  and  re 
demption  under  one  of  the  three.  The  party  which  be 
lieves  in  protection  must  look  to  its  perfection.  Our 
party  was  progressing  in  that  direction  when  it  was 
distracted  by  the  contest  over  candidates  which  ended 
in  our  undoing.  It  is  not  to  be  said  that  Republican 


J56  REDEDICATING  AMERICA 

protection  has  made  for  unvarying  good  fortune,  bu? 
it  is  political  history  that  Democratic  revision  invari 
ably  makes  for  depression  and  holds  it  uninterrupted 
until  we  apply  Republican  relief. 

NEED  PROTECTIVE  POLICIES 

Henceforth  we  must  look  above  and  beyond  the  un 
ceasing  and  selfish  wrangle  about  schedules,  and  com 
prehend  from  the  broader  view.  Under  Republican 
protective  policies  we  have  the  larger  and  a  general 
prosperity ;  we  have  doubled  or  trebled  wage  scale  and 
abundance  of  employment;  we  have  the  higher  stand 
ard  of  living  and  the  larger  capacity  to  buy.  It  is  not 
what  the  consumer  pays,  it  is  the  consumer's  ability 
to  buy  that  counts.  Democracy's  error  lies  in  thinking 
only  of  the  consumer,  but  a  Republican  knows  it  is  the 
producer  that  counts.  One  must  produce  before  he 
can  consume,  and  American  eminence  is  the  reflex  of 
a  well-paid,  fully-employed  nation  of  producers.  If 
protection  and  its  alleged  robbery  are  leading  to  op 
pression,  as  Democracy  asserts,  let  some  knowing 
Democrat  tell  us  why  the  incoming  tide  of  immigration 
always  floods  our  shores  when  Republican  good  for 
tune  obtains.  It  is  so  true  that  opponents  have  urged 
that  we  protect  our  products,  but  do  not  protect  the 
laborer.  Every  experience  refutes  the  charge.  When 
the  tide  of  Republican  good  fortune  is  at  the  flood  we 
need  every  newcomer  to  perform  our  tasks;  common 
labor  would  be  left  undone  without  them.  They  do 
not  lower  the  wage,  they  ascend  to  the  American 
heights.  And  they  do  not  come  to  seek  a  new  ex 
istence  in  oppression  or  industrial  slavery,  but  pour 


GRANT'S  REPUBLICANISM  157 

into  this  New- World  haven  of  liberty  and  hope  to  find 
equal  rights,  the  reward  of  industry  and  merit  and 
opportunity,  and  mount  the  plane  of  exalted  American 
citizenship. 

I  am  not  blind  to  the  admonition  that  the  Repub 
lican  party  must  take  advanced  ground  to  win  popular 
favor.  It  may  be  noted,  too,  that  those  most  insistently 
urging  this,  are  declaring  for  the  effacement  of  the 
men  who  have  been  conspicuous  in  the  past.  Let  me 
warn  you,  fellow  Republicans,  the  way  to  victory  and 
the  country's  restoration  is  not  in  recrimination,  but 
reconsecration.  To  efface  the  old  guard,  so-called, 
really  a  term  of  honor  rather  than  opprobrium,  which 
saved  us  from  utter  dissolution  and  gave  us  a  party 
around  which  to  rally,  would  be  like  effacing  the  vet 
erans  who  turned  the  tide  of  rebellion  at  Gettysburg 
in  '63.  Nay,  more,  it  would  be  like  discrediting  Grant's 
irresistible  army  which  moved  unfalteringly  on,  despite 
the  discouraging  losses,  from  the  Wilderness  to  Appo- 
mattox  and  melted  their  swords  and  bayonets  in  the 
fires  of  conflict  to  rivet  anew  the  ties  of  a  saved  and 
henceforth  and  forever  indissoluble  nation.  At  the 
same  time  let  it  be  understood  that  there  need  be 
neither  foreswearing  nor  apology  on  the  part  of  those 
who  enlisted  in  the  Progressive  cause  of  1912.  I  can 
utter  a  cordial  and  sincere  welcome  to  the  reenlist- 
ment  of  any  or  all.  The  country  is  calling,  the  cause 
is  a  people's  need,  and  the  glory  of  things  to  be  will 
make  trivial  the  bitterness  that  came  of  things  which 
could  not  be.  Let  us  turn  from  the  unhappy  wreck  of 
1912  and  look  to  relieving  the  country  of  the  mis 
fortune  which  attended.  The  party  has  proved  its 


i58  '  REDEDICATING  AMERICA 

capacity  to  survive;  let  us  work  together  to  make  it 
the  instrumentality  of  highest  usefulness  under  popu 
lar  government  through  political  parties. 

SANE  PROGRESSIVISM  NEEDED 

It  is  well,  however,  to  ponder  the  tendency  to  break 
away  from  some  of  our  old-fashioned  moorings.  Ours 
is  intended  to  be  a  representative  government,  and 
has  grown  to  gratifying  eminence  after  nearly  a  cen 
tury  and  a  half  of  trials  and  storms  and  passing  pas 
sions  and  prejudice.  It  was  never  intended  to  be  ex 
cessively  paternal  nor  socialistically  fraternal.  Yet 
there  is  a  drift  to  both,  and  there  is  only  a  step  be 
tween.  Plunder  and  greed  on  the  one  hand,  and  ap 
peal  to  prejudice  and  hate  on  the  other  are  swelling  the 
throngs  of  Socialism,  which  will  turn  our  genius  and 
talent  and  industry  into  paralyzed  efficiency.  Surely 
there  is  a  path  of  political  righteousness  aloof  from 
these  threatening  dangers.  With  conscience  awakened, 
let  us  make  it  more  sensitive;  with  men  heeding,  let 
us  weave  new  strength  into  the  moral  fiber  of  indi 
vidual  American  manhood ;  with  public  interest  awak 
ened,  let  us  make  honesty  the  first  requisite  of  men 
and  political  parties,  and  apply  it  as  the  surest  cure 
of  all  social  and  political  and  economic  ills.  Mean 
while,  remembering  that  subsistence  is  the  essential 
foundation  on  which  man  must  stand  to  reach  for  the 
ideal,  let  us  think  of  the  upkeep  as  well  as  the  uplift, 
and  assure  our  millions  the  subsistence  from  which 
they  may  aspire. 

We  wish  our  party  to  be  sanely,  safely,  genuinely 
progressive.    We  want  its  reflective  of  the  best  thought 


GRANT'S  REPUBLICANISM  159 

of  our  most  helpful  activities.  But  we  must  remember 
that  material  progress  and  human  rights  are  not  in 
compatible,  but  are  inseparable,  and  any  policy  which 
hinders  legitimate  business  halts  the  onward  proces 
sion.  We  have  suffered  from  that  tendency  because 
there  has  been  a  disposition  to  make  political  declara 
tions  more  designed  to  enlist  votes  than  advance  the 
people.  Some  times  there  is  stronger  inclination  to 
exploit  than  to  exalt.  We  have  made  stronger  appeal 
to  expectation  than  to  realization.  It  is  not  enough, 
to  be  sure,  to  live  in  the  past,  but  it  must  stir  the  Re 
publican  heart  to  realize  that  our  surpassing  American 
progress  has  come  largely  through  Republican  policies, 
and  chiefly  under  Republican  administration.  It  is  no 
disparagement  of  the  best  interests  of  any  political 
party  to  say  the  Republican  party  reflects  the  best 
conscience  of  the  best  civilization  the  world  has  ever 
witnessed.  Our  party  represents  that  conscience  be 
cause  we  are  political  sponsors  for  things  accom 
plished.  We  have  not  dreamed,  we  have  realized. 
We  have  not  obstructed,  we  have  constructed.  We 
have  not  pretended,  we  have  performed.  We  have  not 
halted  or  faltered,  we  have  attained  and  sustained. 
We  have  pride  in  things  done — the  highest  reward  of 
worthy  endeavor,  and  we  have  the  faith  that  sustains 
every  national  hope  of  the  future.  For  the  things  for 
which  we  have  not  been,  because  conditions  were  not 
ready,  for  the  things  which  ought  to  be,  we  may  strive 
together,  making  the  conscience  and  the  judgment  of 
the  majority  the  will  of  the  party.  Any  other  plan 
spells  the  failure  of  government  of  the  people  through 
political  parties. 


160  REDEDICATING  AMERICA 


RENEWED  CONSECRATION 

The  things  most  needed  are  not  new  ideas,  but  new 
Sincerity  and  a  new  consecration  to  truth  already  ut 
tered.  With  McKinley,  Roosevelt  and  Taft  our  party 
declared  for  a  restored  merchant  marine,  and  were 
hindered  not  alone  by  the  Democratic  party,  but  by 
Republicans  recreant  to  the  party's  pledges.  They 
were  deterred  by  the  clamor  about  special  privilege 
and  government  favoritism,  things  which  never  halted 
the  triumphant  fathers.  They  provided  subsidies  and 
subventions  and  discriminating  tonnage  taxes  and 
preferential  tariffs  on  cargoes  shipped  in  American 
bottoms,  and  they  whitened  the  seas  with  American 
sails  and  acquainted  the  world  with  the  American  flag. 
The  preservation  of  their  policies  would  have  main 
tained  our  prestige  as  carriers  by  seas,  but  we  aban 
doned  our  upbuilding  and  it  heralded  our  undoing. 
Finally  war  brought  us  to  realization.  Except  in  a 
limited  sense,  war  paralyzed  the  carriers  of  our  com 
petitors,  and  blocked  their  shipping  lines  which  we 
builded  for  them,  out  of  our  freights,  to  aid  them  in 
defeating  our  commercial  expansion.  Then  when  the 
unsupplied  markets  of  the  world  turned  to  us,  and 
trade  beckoned  as  never  before,  and  opportunity 
awaited  as  opportunity  rarely  does  await,  we  found 
ourselves  unable  to  respond,  and  missed  the  oppor 
tunity  for  the  miracle  of  expansion.  Democracy  awoke 
to  the  error  of  its  persistent  opposition,  declined  to 
confess  its  mistaken  attitude  and  turned  to  substitute 
federal  ownership  for  the  subsidy  it  condemned. 

We  build  the  Panama  Canal  at  fortv  millions  out- 


GRANT'S  REPUBLICANISM  161 

lay,  and  say  to  world  shipping :  "Here  is  an  American 
gift  to  further  your  fortunes."  I  think  the  time  has 
come  to  do  something  for  American  shipping,  to  add 
to  our  conquest  of  world  markets,  while  enhancing 
our  prosperity  at  home.  This  policy  has  been  the  wish 
of  Republican  majorities,  but  we  failed  to  write  the 
wish  of  the  majority  into  party  and  national  law. 
But  we  can  do  it  now,  and  we  will;  a  restored  and 
triumphant  American  merchant  marine  shall  be  the 
first  contribution  of  returned  Republicanism  to  greater 
national  glory. 

HOME  PRODUCTION  URGED 

We  have  heard  something  lately  of  a  slogan — 
"Made  in  the  U.  S.  A."  No  other  political  party  can 
so  becomingly  adopt  it.  We  like  "made  in  the  U.  S. 
A.,"  and  mean  to  protect  the  making  and  the  makers. 
And  we  mean  to  be  consistent  by  buying  in  the  U.  S. 
A.,  and  not  only  commend  the  policy  to  American 
citizens,  but  demand  the  practise  by  the  American 
government.  It  was  lacking  in  patriotism  for  the 
government  to  buy  abroad  the  million-dollar  cranes 
for  the  completed  Panama  Canal,  because  European 
toilers  worked  for  less,  when  our  own  workmen  needed 
the  employment.  It  shows  a  lack  of  mutuality  of  in 
terest  to  have  American  railroads  go  to  Canada  for 
thousands  of  tons  of  steel  rails,  and  reveals  the  weak 
ness  of  our  system  which  gives  our  markets  to  Cana 
dians  when  they  have  none  of  their  own  and  we  need 
ours  most  at  home.  "Made  in  the  U.  S.  A."  is  the 
making  of  the  U.  S.  A.,  and  the  Republican  party 
would  make  it  a  glad  reality,  an  assurance  of  accom- 


162  REDEDICATING  AMERICA 

plishment  at  home  and  a  herald  of  American  superi 
ority  abroad.  There  is  little  use  to  make  if  we  do  not 
buy.  And  little  use  to  make  if  we  do  not  sell,  and  we 
need  our  own  ocean  carriers  to  deliver. 

While  honoring  Grant  to-night,  let  us  recall  his  ad 
vice  on  this  subject,  written  in  the  deliberation  of  his 
reflections  when  he  penned  his  memoirs — thirty  years 
ago.  The  great  commander  wrote ; 

"Now  scarcely  twenty  years  after  the  war,  we  seem 
to  have  forgotten  the  lessons  it  taught,  and  we  are 
going  on  as  if  in  the  greatest  security,  without  the 
power  to  resist  invasion.  .  .  .  We  should  have  a 
good  navy,  and  our  seacoast  defenses  should  be  put 
in  the  finest  possible  condition.  .  .  .  Money  ex 
pended  in  a  fine  navy  not  only  adds  to  our  security  and 
tends  to  prevent  war,  but  is  a  material  aid  to  our 
commerce." 

The  truth  is  more  apparent  to-day.  Naval  prepared 
ness  for  defense  is  not  preparation  for  invasion.  Safe 
guarding  tranquillity  is  not  eagerness  for  conquest. 
The  United  States  has  no  such  purpose.  Our  terri 
tory  is  ample.  Texas  alone  has  as  many  square  miles 
and  as  many  fertile  acres  as  the  German  empire, 
which  holds  the  Allies  of  Europe  at  bay.  We  are  so 
large,  so  seemingly  measureless,  so  physically  beyond 
comparison,  that  I  think,  sometimes,  Democratic 
failure  is  due  to  lack  of  realization  of  our  greatness, 
and  the  requisites  of  greatness  in  solving  its  own 
problem.  Where  European  coast  lines  count  hundreds, 
ours  measure  thousands,  and  we  require  for  "safety 
first,"  not  only  the  best  of  coast  defenses,  but  we  ought 
to  have  the  first  and  best  navy  in  the  world.  It  will 
guard  our  commerce,  our  sea,  and  guarantee  our  tran- 


GRANT'S  REPUBLICANISM  163 

quillity  at  home.  It  will  cheer  Missouri  as  it  comforts 
Massachusetts,  and  make  the  American  voice  for  peace 
more  an  argument  and  less  an  appeal. 

THE  AWAKENED  CONSCIENCE 

Mr.  Toastmaster,  no  Republican,  no  American  can 
be  blind  to  the  agitation  and  the  strife  for  reformation 
which  marked  our  political  activity  during  the  past 
half  dozen  years.  If  in  the  contest  between  radicalism 
and  conservatism  the  pendulum  was  far-swung  to  the 
former,  let  us  hold  to  all  the  good  which  was  wrought 
and  guard  against  the  excessive  backward  swing. 

In  that  retrospection  which  makes  for  inspiration, 
there  grows  the  conviction  that  Republican  progress, 
written  in  half  a  century  of  Republican  accomplish 
ment,  seems  more  like  the  miracle  of  a  national  destiny 
than  the  story  of  a  political  party  and  its  tasks  in  state 
craft.  But  the  truth  abides,  incomparable  and  incontro 
vertible.  We  have  not  only  made  a  nation,  rough-hewn 
and  popularly  governed,  the  marvel  of  development 
among  great  nations;  we  have  contributed  to  the  up 
lift,  emphasized  human  rights  and  elevated  the  stand 
ard  of  living;  we  have  not  only  become  leaders  in 
finance  and  industry ;  we  have  not  only  become  equals 
in  education  and  rivals  in  art,  but  we  are  the  inspira 
tion  and  example  of  other  republics,  and  ought  to  be, 
could  be,  influencing  the  idealization  of  the  government 
of  the  earth.  Thus  runs  the  epitome  of  Republican 
accomplishment.  It  justifies  our  pride  in  the  past, 
explains  the  nation-wide  turning  to  the  party  for  the 
country's  restoration,  and  gives  every  assurance  of 
glorious  triumphs  in  the  future. 


CHAPTER  XI 
VOTE  ON  DECLARATION  OF  WAR  WITH  GERMANY 

'Address  in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States, 
Wednesday,  April  4, 


The  Senate,  as  in  Committee  of  the  Whole,  had  under  con 
sideration  the  joint  resolution  (S.  J.  Res.  1)  declaring  that  a 
state  of  war  exists  between  the  Imperial  German  Government 
and  the  Government  and  the  people  of  the  United  States,  and 
making  provision  to  prosecute  the  same. 

MR.  PRESIDENT  —  I  am  conscious  of  the  impatience 
of  the  Senate  to  reach  a  vote  on  the  pending  joint  reso 
lution,  and  I  do  not  find  myself  impelled  to  enter  into 
any  extended  discussion  of  the  matter  pending;  but  I 
do  realize  the  gravity  of  the  moment,  and  I  want  to  say 
for  myself  at  least  a  few  things  that  will  help  to  avoid 
a  wrong  impression  coming  from  the  action  to  be 
taken  by  this  body. 

I  want  those  whom  I  am  seeking  to  represent  in  this 
body  to  understand  that  I  am  not  voting  for  war  in  re 
sponse  to  the  alleged  hysteria  of  a  subsidized  or  Eng 
lish-owned  press.  I  want  to  take  this  opportunity  of 
resenting  the  charge  that  the  press  of  the  United  States 
is  either  owned  or  subsidized  by  any  foreign  power. 
I  do  not  hesitate  to  say  that  I  think  the  American  press 
is  the  best  safeguard  we  have  to  the  American  spirit, 
and  the  best  advocate  we  have  of  our  American  lib 
erties. 

164 


VOTE  ON  WAR  WITH  GERMANY     165 

I  want  it  known  also  that  I  am  not  voting  for  war 
in  response  to  the  campaign  of  the  munition  makers, 
for  there  has  been  none. 

NOT  FIGHTING  IN  NAME  OF  DEMOCRACY 

I  want  especially  to  say,  Mr.  President,  that  I  am 
not  voting  for  war  in  the  name  of  democracy.  I  want 
to  emphasize  that  fact  for  a  moment,  because  much  has 
been  said  upon  that  subject  on  this  floor.  It  is  my 
deliberate  judgment  that  it  is  none  of  our  business 
what  type  of  government  any  nation  on  this  earth  may 
choose  to  have ;  and  one  can  not  be  entirely  just  unless 
he  makes  the  admission  in  this  trying  hour  that  the 
German  people  evidently  are  pretty  well  satisfied  with 
their  government,  because  I  could  not  ask  a  better 
thing  for  this  popular  government  of  the  United  States 
of  America  than  the  same  loyal  devotion  on  the  part 
of  every  American  that  the  German  gives  to  his 
government. 

I  am  not  unmindful,  Senators,  that  the  great  Julius 
Caesar  fought  the  battles  of  the  Roman  republic,  and 
his  assassins  saw  him  bequeath  an  empire  to  Augustus. 
I  am  not  unmindful  that  the  great  Bonaparte  fought 
his  battles  in  the  name  of  the  first  French  republic,  and 
his  ambition  left  an  empire  that  faded  at  St.  Helena. 
It  does  not  matter  so  much,  Senators,  what  the  form 
of  government  may  be  if  the  people  existing  under 
that  government  are  content  therewith.  More  depends 
on  the  human  agency  that  administers  the  government ; 
and  it  is  my  deliberate  judgment  to-night  that  it  is  up 
to  us  to  demonstrate  the  permanency  of  a  republic 
before  we  enter  upon  a  world-wide  war  to  establish 


166  '  REDEDICATING  AMERICA ' 

democracy.     We  may  well  leave  that  to  the  other 
nations  concerned. 

TO  MAINTAIN  AMERICAN  RIGHTS 

I  want  it  known  to  the  people  of  my  state  and  to 
the  nation  that  I  am  voting  for  war  to-night  for  the 
maintenance  of  just  American  rights,  which  is  the 
first  essential  to  the  preservation  of  the  soul  of  this 
republic.  Why,  Senators,  perhaps  it  has  been  an  ob 
session  with  me,  but  in  watching  the  trend  of  events 
since  the  outbreak  of  the  European  war  and  the  en 
deavor  to  influence  popular  sentiment  in  this  republic 
I  reached  a  stage  where  I  doubted  if  we  had  that 
unanimity  of  sentiment  which  is  necessary  for  the 
preservation  of  this  free  government.  We  had  reached 
a  stage  where  seemingly  we  were  without  a  soul. 
Somehow  or  other  we  had  deadened  the  fires  under 
the  American  melting  pot,  and  it  looked  as  though  we 
were  a  divided  people.  On  the  floor  of  this 
Senate,  where  above  all  else  we  ought  to  preach  Ameri 
can  unity  and  the  maintenance  of  American  rights,  I 
have  heard  doctrines  preached  which  indicated  divi 
sions  and  selfish  interests,  which  suggested  that  these 
United  States  of  America,  instead  of  going  on  to  the 
fulfillment  of  the  splendid  destiny  that  the  fathers 
must  have  had  in  mind,  were  becoming  a  mere  colloca 
tion  of  states  rather  preferring  to  live  in  ease  and 
comfort  and  selfish  attainments  than  to  know  the  spirit 
that  becomes  this  boasted,  popular  government 


VOTE  ON  WAR  WITH  GERMANY      167 


TO  PRESERVE  AMERICA 

And  so,  Mr.  President,  to-night,  in  the  grave  situ 
ation  that  I  full  well  realize,  with  the  understanding 
of  every  responsibility  that  goes  with  the  vote,  I  vote 
for  this  joint  resolution  to  make  war — not  a  war 
thrust  upon  us,  if  I  could  choose  the  language  of  the 
resolution,  but  a  war  declared  in  response  to  affronts ; 
a  war  that  will  at  least  put  a  soul  into  our  American 
life ;  a  war  not  for  the  cause  of  the  Allies  of  Europe ;  a 
war  not  for  France,  beautiful  as  the  sentiment  may 
be  in  reviving  at  least  our  gratitude  to  the  French 
people;  not  precisely  a  war  for  civilization,  worthy 
and  inspiring  as  that  would  be ;  but  a  war  that  speaks 
for  the  majesty  of  a  people  popularly  governed,  who 
finally  are  brought  to  the  crucial  test  where  they  are 
resolved  to  get  together  and  wage  a  conflict  for  the 
maintenance  of  their  rights  and  the  preservation  of 
the  covenant  inherited  from  the  fathers. 

Why,  Mr.  President,  not  so  very  long  ago,  in  the 
mail  which  comes  to  me  as  it  does  to  every  member 
of  this  body,  a  constituent  wrote  me  asking:  "Why 
seek  to  preserve  American  rights?  There  is  no  dis 
tinctly  American  nationality,"  said  he.  "We  are  a 
mixture  or  a  blend  or  an  aggregation  of  all  the  peoples 
of  the  world,  and  we  have  been  surrendering  our 
rights,  notably  in  Mexico.  Why  insist  upon  them 
now  ?"  I  said  to  him,  as  I  say  to  the  Senate  now : 
"The  momentary  suspension  of  American  rights,  or 
the  temporary  toleration  of  an  attack  on  American 
rights,  does  not  mean  their  surrender."  I  said  to  him 
further :  "If  there  is  no  one  who  is  distinctly  Ameri- 


168  REDEDICATING  AMERICA 

can,  then,  in  the  name  of  the  republic,  it  is  time  that 
we  find  one."  I  hope  that  out  of  this  great  tumult 
of  the  world,  and  our  part  therein,  there  will  spring 
from  Columbia's  loins  the  real  American,  believing  in 
popular  government,  and  willing  to  suffer  and  sacrifice, 
if  need  be,  to  maintain  the  rights  of  that  government 
and  the  people  thereunder.  I  believe  that  this  is  the 
great  essential  to  the  perpetuity  of  the  American  re 
public — the  maintenance  of  rights  in  confidence,  abso 
lutely  without  selfish  interest. 

GUARANTEE  OF  NATIONALITY 

We  have  given  to  the  world  a  spectacle  of  a  great 
nation  that  could  make  war  without  selfish  intent.  We 
unsheathed  the  sword  some  eighteen  years  ago,  for  the 
first  time  in  the  history  of  the  world,  in  the  name  of 
humanity,  and  we  gave  proof  to  the  world  at  that 
time  of  an  unselfish  nation.  Now,  whether  it  is  fate 
or  fortune  or  the  travail  of  destiny,  it  has  come  to  us 
to  unsheathe  the  sword  again,  not  alone  for  humanity's 
sake — though  that  splendid  inspiration  will  be  involved 
— but  to  unsheathe  the  sword  against  a  great  power  in 
the  maintenance  of  the  rights  of  the  republic,  in  that 
maintenance  which  will  give  to  us  a  new  guaranty  of 
nationality.  That  is  the  great  thing,  and  I  want  it 
known,  Mr.  President  and  Senators,  that  this  is  the 
impelling  thought  with  me  for  one  when  I  cast  my 
vote. 

I  have  been  told,  and  the  senator  from  Wisconsin 
(Mr.  LaFollette),  who  stood  here  to-day,  gave  us  the 
warning  that  we  were  taking  up  a  perilous  cause.  He 
made  the  argument  that  the  nation  which  was  willing 


VOTE  ON  WAR  WITH  GERMANY      169 

to  follow  the  submarine  warfare  could  probably  assert 
itself  against  the  combined  powers  of  the  globe.  Mr. 
President,  not  since  the  world  began,  not  since  civili 
zation  wrote  its  first  page  in  history,  has  it  been  given 
to  any  one  nation  to  dominate  the  earth.  World 
domination  is  not  of  man.  That  is  of  God,  the  Cre 
ator.  It  has  become  the  fortune  of  this  republic  to 
cry  "halt!"  to  a  maddened  power  casting  aside  the 
obligations  of  civilization  and  the  limitations  of  that 
which  we  look  upon  as  highest  humanity.  I  know  that 
the  task  will  be  undertaken  by  the  American  people 
not  originally  committed  to  the  cause  of  war,  but  a 
people  who  will  understand  that  when  the  Congress 
speaks  after  due  deliberation,  after  the  patience  which 
this  body  and  this  government  have  exercised,  the  voice 
of  the  United  States  Congress  is  the  voice  of  the  nation, 
and  one  hundred  millions  of  people  will  commit  them 
selves  to  the  great  cause  of  the  maintenance  of  just 
American  rights — a  thing  for  which  the  nation  can 
well  afford  to  fight,  and  while  fighting  for  it  put  a  new 
soul  into  a  race  of  American  people  who  can  enthusi 
astically  call  themselves  truly  and  spiritually  and 
abidingly  an  American  people. 


CHAPTER  XII 
AMERICA  IN  THE  WAR 

Address  at  the  Ohio  Republican  State  Convention, 
Columbus,  Ohio,  August  27,  1918 

GENTLEMEN  OF  THE  CONVENTION — The  statement 
that  "politics  is  adjourned"  needs  revision.  Disloyalty 
and  indifference  are  adjourned,  and  patriotism  flames 
high  above  and  beyond  party  lines  for  the  winning  of 
the  war.  The  first  and  foremost  thought  of  every  real 
American  is  the  armed  triumph  of  America  and  her 
allies,  with  Germany  brought  to  kneel  at  the  altar  of 
international  pentinence.  Minority  hampering  of  the 
government  in  prosecuting  the  war  has  not  been  ad 
journed,  because  there  was  none  to  adjourn.  The  few 
obstructionists,  long  since  shamed  into  obscurity,  bore 
no  party  credentials,  but  were  disavowed  by  the  party 
to  which  they  previously  adhered.  No  party  worthy 
of  trust  in  peace  or  war  invites  or  accepts  the  fellow 
ship  of  any  who  is  not  one  hundred  per  cent.  American 
in  the  hour  of  the  republic's  peril. 

And  "politics  is  adjourned"  never  can  be  true  of  a 
nation  popularly  governed  through  the  instrumentality 
of  political  parties.  These  parties  are  inseparable  from 
every  vital  step  in  national  life.  Abolish  them  and 

170 


AMERICA  IN  THE  WAR  171 

personal  government  becomes  the  substitute,  and  abso 
lute,  and  violates  every  conception  of  representative 
popular  government. 

PARTISANISM  FORGOTTEtf 

The  strife  for  partisan  advantage  amid  the  anxieties 
6f  war,  partisan  opposition  designed  to  delay  and 
hinder — these  have  been  discountenanced  by  the  Re 
publican  minority  since  the  day  the  Congress  com 
mitted  the  country  to  defend  national  rights  and  the 
safety  of  civilization.  We  submerged  partisan  lines 
for  the  concord  of  the  republic,  and  in  Congress  and 
out  the  present  minority  party  has  given  to  the  presi 
dent  the  most  cordial  and  whole-hearted  and  abiding 
support  ever  given  to  any  federal  executive  by  a  mi 
nority  party  since  the  republic  began.  To  be  Americans 
first  rivets  our  devotion  as  Republicans.  We  must  save 
the  republic  which  we  aim  to  exalt. 

It  is  the  simple  truth,  not  spoken  in  disparagement 
of  any  one,  the  patriotic  conscience  of  the  republic, 
wounded  and  suffering  through  affront  and  outrage 
before  we  declared  war,  the  war  declaration  and  the 
consecration  of  the  human  and  material  energies  of 
republic  to  its  winning,  have  been  more  cordially  and 
effectively  sustained  by  the  Republican  minority  than 
by  the  dominant  party  in  control  of  the  government. 

REPUBLICANS  SUPPORTED  WAR 

It  is  not  said  to  boast.  It  was  a  patriotic  duty,  read 
ily  and  gladly  performed.  It  hastened  the  spiritual 
preparedness  of  our  people.  It  speeded  all  America 
to  unalterable  committal  and  undivided  support.  It 


172  REDEDICATING  AMERICA 

developed  a  national  soul  aflame.  It  gave  notice  to 
the  world,  and  Germany  in  particular,  that  this  great 
free  people,  in  spite  of  partisan  lines  and  sectional 
differences  and  varied  interests  and  conflicting  opin 
ions,  even  with  sedition  taught  and  tolerated,  we  could 
be  one  people,  heart  and  soul,  to  give  to  our  last 
dollar  and  our  last  heart-beat  to  maintain  national 
rights  and  the  freedom  of  the  world. 

There  will  be,  there  can  be  no  limitations  to  our  un 
alterable  committal.  Patient,  tolerable,  forbearing, 
more  than  forgiving,  we  humbled  our  pride  and  held 
aloof  when  an  earlier  entry  would  have  answered  the 
call  of  a  righteous  self-respect,  but  we  are  committed 
to  the  task  now,  and  nothing  will  satisfy  but  an  un 
conditional  triumph.  This  conscience-awakened  gen 
eration  will  not  turn  slacker  and  pass  on  to  another 
the  conflict  between  might  and  frightfulness  on  the 
one  hand  and  humanity  and  justice  on  the  other. 

I  do  not  know  how  long  it  will  last.  I  do  not  know 
what  the  cost  in  lives  and  treasure  will  be.  I  can  not 
estimate  the  measure  of  sacrifice  and  suffering  and 
sorrow.  I  do  know  the  unalterableness  of  our  con 
science-driven  committal. 

NEW  BIRTH  OF  NATIONAL  SOUL 

This  is  an  epoch  in  the  world.  We  have  witnessed 
the  new  birth  of  the  national  soul.  We  are  all  Ameri 
can  from  this  time  on.  No  prefixes,  no  apologies,  no 
limitations,  simply  unalloyed,  unconditional,  unalter 
able,  all-American. 

When  Congress  had  before  it  the  question  of  arming 
our  merchant  shipping  for  self-defense,  an  Ohio  citi- 


AMERICA  IN  THE  WAR  173 

zen  of  foreign  birth  wrote  me  in  protest  against  the 
proposed  arming,  admonishing  me  not  to  be  too  con 
cerned  about  American  rights,  because,  said  he,  "there 
is  no  distinctly  American  citizen."  In  my  amazement 
I  made  reply  and  said :  "If  it  be  true,  as  you  urge,  that 
there  is  to-day  no  distinctly  American  citizen,  then  in 
God's  name,  out  of  this  turmoil  of  the  world,  out  of 
this  travail  of  civilization,  let  us  have  a  real  and  dis 
tinct  American  spring  from  Columbia's  loins,  to  leave 
a  race  of  real  Americans  hereafter."  And  from  this 
day  on  he  who  chooses  existence  on  American  soil  and 
profits  on  beckoning  American  opportunity,  and  wears 
the  garb  of  American  citizenship,  must  be  American  in 
his  heart  and  soul.  No  republic  can  endure  half  loyal, 
half  disloyal.  The  protection  and  advantages  of  citi 
zenship  demand  the  duties  and  obligations  of  that 
citizenship.  We  are  to  be  right  at  home  and  righteous 
in  world  relationship  to  make  the  republic  worthy  its 
best  aspirations  and  prove  exemplar  to  the  world  that 
orderly,  popular  government  is  a  diviner  thing  than 
divinity  of  kings. 

I  recognize  with  utter  frankness  the  difficulty  and 
embarrassment  in  formulating  a  minority  party  policy 
in  a  time  so  fraught  with  anxiety,  when  the  winning  of 
the  war  transcends  all  else.  Under  a  party  government 
ours  is  not  the  direct  responsibility,  but  no  party 
sponsorship  marks  patriotic  devotion.  Country  first! 
Win  the  war !  Speed  a  peace  with  overwhelming  vic 
tory  !  Conscious  of  a  loyal  minority's  part,  we  pledge 
our  all.  A  proclaiming  Republican  who  is  not  heart 
and  soul  for  American  and  allied  triumph  can  have  no 
yoke  in  our  councils  to-day  and  can  not  appraise  the 


174  REDEDICATING  AMERICA 

pricelessness  of  our  achievement  sufficiently  to  have 
a  helpful  say  in  the  aftermath  to  come. 

REPUBLICANS  URGE  CONCORD 

Our  most  trusted  leaders  in  public  life,  those  best 
equipped  to  know  and  speak  the  aspirations  of  party 
and  nation,  have  put  concord  of  American  spirit  and 
unity  of  endeavor  far  above  and  beyond  partisan  ends, 
party  policy  and  personal  convictions.  There  is  re 
pressed  outcry  about  unending  instances  of  discour 
aging  incompetency,  distressing  errors,  and  shocking 
incapacity,  but  it  has  been  better  to  press  remedial  at 
tention  than  to  rend  our  concord  and  mar  the  con 
fidence  of  a  trusting  people. 

Much  of  disappointment,  much  of  delay,  much  of 
shocking  wastefulness  would  come  of  unpreparedness, 
where  a  people  dwelling  in  fancied  security  are  sud 
denly  drawn  unexpectedly  and  unwillingly  into  the  sur 
passing  conflict  of  all  civilization.  It  is  little  use  now 
to  grieve  over  the  costly  inactivity  during  the  precious 
days  when  we  saw  the  world-war  flames  mounting 
higher  and  higher  and  men  in  authority  knew — aye, 
they  knew — we  were  sure  to  be  involved.  It  is  little 
use  now  to  recite  the  regrettable  story  of  our  first 
wasted  year  in  the  war.  It  is  better  to  fix  our  eager 
gaze  on  the  million  and  a  half  irresistible  American 
fighting  men,  whom  we  speeded  to  Europe  far  in  ad 
vance  of  early  intentions,  because  imperiled  freedom 
and  civilization  stirred  us  to  the  republic's  best  en 
deavor.  Let  us  satisfy  our  hunger  for  achievement  in 
the  indisputable  evidence  that  the  armed  sons  of  the 
republic  have  turned  the  tide  of  war. 


AMERICA  IN  THE  WAR  175 

The  Republican  party,  in  the  position  of  opposition, 
after  the  glorious  years  of  constructive  responsibility 
doesn't  mean  to  turn  to  nagging  faultfinding  in  Con 
gress  or  on  the  stump  while  the  flag  is  imperiled.  We 
will  await  our  return  to  power  and  correct  the  errors 
bf  a  party  unfitted  by  teaching  and  unsuited  because 
of  its  dominant  elements  for  the  best  advancement  of 
our  great  republic. 


INVESTIGATIONS  PROVE 

We  have  supported  the  cause,  we  have  striven  to 
Speed  this  mighty  people  to  the  performance  of  a  real 
man's  part  in  the  engrossing  struggle.  Not  a  few 
thought  —  and  some  in  high  places  proclaimed  —  that  the 
several  investigations  in  Congress  were  designed  to 
embarrass  or  discredit  the  work  of  the  administration. 
Nothing  was  further  from  the  truth.  Congress,  feeling 
the  impelling  conscience  of  the  country,  was  seeking 
to  produce,  not  hinder.  That  there  was  minority 
insistence  need  not  be  surprising  in  our  era  of  drift 
on  the  majority's  part  toward  congressional  abdica 
tion.  But  the  purpose  was  patriotic  and  helpful  beyond 
measure.  These  investigations  turned  failure  into  de 
veloped  might.  I  can  speak  of  one  instance  with  per 
sonal  knowledge. 

For  thirty  years  the  Republican  party  had  been  de 
claring  for  and  striving  for  a  restored  merchant  marine. 
We  wanted  it  for  commercial  eminence  in  peace  and  a 
military  and  naval  auxiliary  in  war.  We  urged  only 
few  millions  from  the  federal  treasury  to  aid  Ameri 
can  genius  and  industry  to  restore  the  prestige  taken 
from  us  by  a  like  policy.  But  the  party  now  in  power 


176  REDEDICATING  AMERICA 

maintained  its  abiding  opposition  and  the  war  found 
us  without  the  shipping  necessary  to  carry  on  war 
across  the  broad  Atlantic.  We  hurriedly  appropriated 
hundreds  of  millions,  and  yet  more  hundreds  of  mil 
lions,  to  do  what  private  enterprises  would  have  ac 
complished  with  a  relative  pittance  of  encouragement. 
But  there  was  delay  and  dispute  and  well-grounded 
alarm,  with  Germany  destroying  the  allied  carriers  and 
our  own  at  sea.  Finally,  by  calling  the  attention  of 
Congress  to  the  growing  menace  I  unintentionally  be 
came  sponsor  for  a  resolution  to  investigate.  Partisan 
intent  was  charged,  but  we  did  investigate,  and  we 
stirred  to  endeavor,  and  we  corrected  colossal  blunders. 
My  point  is  that  we  helped  instead  of  hampered. 

RECONSTRUCTION  AHEAD 

I  think  there  is  courage,  practicability,  lofty  patriot 
ism  and  highly  unselfish  partisanship  to  consecrate  the 
minority  party  energies  to  the  supreme  task  at  hand. 
We  will  call  for  the  big  accounting  when  the  fitting 
time  comes,  and  such  a  time  will  come. 

We  can  not  define  the  constructive  and  obstructive 
policies  which  will  be  pressing  on  the  morrow  of 
peace.  We  shall  only  claim  the  conscience  and  capac 
ity,  already  proven,  to  work  out  the  best  solution.  We 
are  free  from  committal  to  the  fundamental  changes 
made  in  the  name  of  war. 

There  are  to  come  the  tremendous  problems  of  recon 
struction  and  restoration.  To  make  popular  govern 
ment  capable  of  self-defense  we  have  swung  far  in 
granting  excess  power  to  the  executive.  It  was  seem 
ingly  necessary,  and  most  of  the  astounding  grants  are 


AMERICA  IN  THE  WAR  177 

for  the  war  period  alone.  They  would  be  intolerable 
in  peace — would  be  a  perversion  of  every  ideal  of 
representative  popular  government.  We  have  a  right  to 
assume  the  automatic  resumption  of  the  normal  state, 
but  power  is  seldom  surrendered  with  the  same  will 
ingness  with  which  it  is  granted  in  the  hour  of  great 
emergency.  But  I  think  the  conscience  and  conviction 
of  the  republic  will  demand  the  restored  inheritances 
of  the  founding  fathers.  I  know  the  Republican  party 
will  stand  for  only  the  modifications  which  are  decided 
upon  in  the  deliberate  reflection  of  peace,  not  the  en 
forced  and  destroying  changes  wrought  in  the  exigen 
cies  and  anxieties  of  war. 

Some  powers  are  exercised  without  specific  grant, 
contrary  to  all  we  boast  in  the  rule  of  democracy.  The 
leadership  of  the  president  is  never  to  be  disputed  in 
the  disposition  of  patriotic  endeavor  against  a  foreign 
foe,  but  the  interference  of  the  president  in  domestic 
affairs  far  removed  from  executive  authority  reveals 
a  tendency  toward  usurpation  which  we  must  and  do 
oppose  in  our  devotion  to  the  cherished  inheritance  of 
political  freedom. 

A  political  leader,  proclaiming  politics  adjourned, 
poorly  sustains  the  pronouncement  when  he  tells  any 
state,  Republican  or  Democrat,  whom  to  send  to  the 
Senate.  Party  leadership  does  justify  partisan  council, 
but  executive  sponsorship  or  presidential  branding, 
whether  it  is  the  Okeh  on  an  opulent  Ford  or  the 
brand  of  disapproval  on  a  Republican  or  Democrat 
v/ho  rejects  the  rubber-stamp  service,  savors  more  of 
autocracy  than  representative  democracy.  It  was  re 
sented  in  Wisconsin  and  will  be  resented  in  Michigan, 


178 "  REDEDICATING  AMERICA 

and  patriotism  will  be  exalted.  Parties  and  peoples  in 
the  several  states  of  the  Union  are  still  capable  of 
choosing  their  spokesmen  in  Congress  in  peace  or  war, 
else  we  acknowledge  the  failure  of  the  very  institutions 
which  we  commend  to  the  world. 

NOT  THE  PRESIDENT'S  WAR 

This  isn't  exclusively  the  president's  war.  See  the 
campaign  bulletin  boards  of  1916  for  the  disavowal. 
This  isn't  a  party  war,  because  the  majority  party  in 
Congress  was  too  divided  to  declare  it  and  too  divided 
to  prosecute  it.  This  is  the  war  of  the  American  peo 
ple,  answering  an  offended  people's  resolution  to  de 
fend  the  nation's  rights.  The  president  is  official 
leader  and  recognized  commander-in-chief,  and  we 
mean  to  back  him  up  to  the  limit  of  our  energies  and 
resources,  but  as  leader  of  the  Democratic  party  we 
challenge  his  unwarranted  assumption  of  autocratic 
political  authority. 

Democratic  party  politics  hasn't  been  adjourned  for 
one  hour  in  the  control  of  the  government  by  the  ad 
ministration  now  in  power.  I  do  not  presume  to  say 
our  party  would  have  been  less  vigilant  in  strengthen 
ing  the  party  hold  on  the  reins  of  government.  It  is 
inopportune  now  to  audit  the  account,  and  note  the 
sacrifices  of  a  nation's  interests  for  partisan  advantage, 
but  peace  will  call  for  the  revealing  story. 

Nor  can  we  survive  the  appeal  to  mass  against  class, 
nor  surrender  proven  policies  to  organized  might. 
Thoughtful  students  of  human  progress  recognize  the 
great  changes  war  is  working.  There  are  changes 
economical,  changes  sociological,  changes  political. 


"  AMERICA  IN  THE  WAR,  179 

The  world  must  change  in  such  a  tumult.  And  we 
ought  to  advance,  we  must  grow  better,  else  all  the 
sacrificed  lives  will  be  spent  in  vain. 

We  are  far  adrift  toward  the  socialized  state.  The 
seizure  of  the  railroads  did  not  proclaim  it,  because 
that  action  was  an  apparent  necessity.  The  seizure  of 
the  communication  lines  was  more  revealing.  Authority 
was  asked  on  the  plea  that  it  was  needed  for  a  possible 
emergency,  and  the  intention  to  take  them  over  was 
emphatically  disclaimed.  In  two  weeks  after  the  grant 
of  authority  was  passed,  without  an  emergency  arising, 
without  a  proclaimed  necessity,  the  seizure  was  made. 
Another  step  taken !  Others  will  follow.  No  man  can 
mark  the  halting  place.  War  authority  is  almost  limit 
less,  and  while  the  sons  of  the  republic  are  battling 
to  make  the  world  safe  for  democracy,  the  radicals  at 
home  are  making  the  republic  the  realm  of  state  social 
ism.  If  it  were  only  for  the  war  there  would  be  less 
concern.  Any  one  who  looks  to  complete  restoration 
after  peace  comes  again  is  blind  to  the  speeding  cur 
rent  in  our  national  life. 

There  are,  indeed,  tasks  to  come.  We  achieved  under 
representative  democracy,  and  we  ought  to  preserve  it. 
We  boasted  civil  liberty,  human  liberty  and  religious 
liberty,  the  triune  of  American  freedom,  and  we  ought 
to  hold  them  inviolate.  We  developed  the  republic  to 
world  eminence,  literally  to  supreme  eminence  in  this 
surpassing  trial  of  civilization,  through  the  absolute 
equality  of  opportunity  to  all  men  and  unalterable  law 
of  regarding  merit,  but  the  socialize4  state  will  blight 
it  all. 


180  REDEDICATING  AMERICA 


INTERNATIONALISM  DECRIED 

We  gloried  in  nationality,  now  we  are  contemplating 
internationality.  Modern  conditions,  eliminated  dis 
tances,  banished  aloofness — all  put  human  kind  in 
closer  touch.  Many  of  the  new  obligations  we  can  not 
escape.  We  do  not  mean  to  shirk  them. 

No  one  need  to  be  surprised  if  old  issues  are  given 
new  life.  I  look  to  see  favorite  Republican  policies 
take  on  renewed  importance.  Addressing  Congress 
last  winter  the  president  declared  for  the  removal  of 
all  barriers  of  trade.  This  is  the  tenet  of  the  inter 
national  faith.  The  Socialists  demand  it.  But  it  can 
not  be  now.  America  will  never  lower  her  standards, 
but  they  can  not  be  maintained  without  trade  barriers. 
Let  the  world  advance  to  ours. 

The  theory  of  banished  barriers  is  beautiful,  the 
practise  is  destroying.  American  labor  will  never  con 
sent.  We  must  have  protection  to  hold  us  what  we  are, 
and  send  us  on  to  greater  eminence. 

DEMOCRATIC  EXTRAVAGANCE  ATTACKED 

The  theorists  often  modify  their  pet  notions  when 
challenged  by  unalterable  conditions.  The  government 
is  building  the  mightiest  merchant  fleet  of  the  world, 
but  the  anti-subventionists  now  openly  admit  we  can't 
operate  it  in  open  world  competition,  except  through 
governmental  assumption  of  the  higher  cost  that  goes 
with  American  standards  of  labor  and  wage.  The 
treasury  will  pay  the  bill,  but  the  people  must  supply 
the  treasury. 

One  hesitates  to  speak  of  taxation  in  this  day  of  in- 


AMERICA  IN  THE  WAR  181 

conceivable  expenditure  and  saturnalia  of  extrava 
gance.  The  grumbling  is  suppressed  because  the 
patriotic  resolution  of  the  country  is  steeled  to  sacrifice 
and  outlay,  and  denial  and  burdens.  There  is  ever 
waste  in  war,  and  attending  abuses  inseparable  from 
war  and  war's  destruction.  Ours  is  the  heavier  be 
cause  we  have  paid  for  speed,  and  spent  vainly  in  in 
competence.  The  non-partisan  report  on  this  aircraft 
failure  is  proof  enough.  I  will  not  yield  to  specify. 
An  aggrieved  and  disappointed  nation  knows.  The 
popular  notion  of  the  hour  that  it  is  good  to  dissipate 
the  resources  of  the  country  will  become  an  emphasized 
folly  in  the  tedious  days  of  liquidated  debts  when  the 
fever  of  war  has  subsided.  We  ought  to  have  accom 
plished  vastly  more  at  half  the  cost,  but  cost  is  little 
reckoned  now.  The  present  majority  will  never  limit  it. 
Let  none  mistake  the  simple  solemn  truth;  there  is 
great  work  for  any  party  ahead,  a  great  work  for  the 
Republican  party.  There  is  no  call  to  cast  aside  party 
organization,  or  diminish  party  endeavor.  No  party 
has  had  a  monopoly  on  patriotism  or  loyalty  since  the 
republic  began,  else  the  republic  had  failed  long  ago. 
We  have  proven  our  devotion  in  every  great  test.  We 
are  best  fitted  to  solve  the  problems  to  come,  because 
the  errors  are  not  ours,  and  we  are  neither  called  to 
apologize  nor  defend.  The  presidency  isn't  at  issue  this 
year.  President  Wilson  will  see  the  war's  end  in  that 
period  allotted  to  him  by  the  traditions  of  American 
politics,  meanwhile  we  mean  to  support  him  cordially, 
whole-heartedly  and  patriotically  as  the  republic's 
commander-in-chief. 


CHAPTER  XIII 
Tnfi  REPUBLICAN  PARTY  AND  AMERICA 

Address  before  the  Republican  Rally  at  Memorial 

Hall,  Columbut,  Ohio,  February  23,  1920 

(Washington's  Birthday) 

FELLOW  REPUBLICANS — It  is  good  to  touch  elbows 
again,  and  breathe  the  spirit  of  confident  Republican 
ism.  It  is  gratifying  to  feel  a  full  fellowship  in  a  great 
political  party,  which  has  left  such  an  impress  of  help 
fulness  to  the  republic  that  all  the  United  States  of 
America  are  turning  to  the  Republicans  for  the  res 
toration  hoped  for  in  every  American  heart.  So  strik 
ing  is  this  truth  that  there  is  a  confident  belief  that  the 
sectional  lines  which  have  heretofore  marked  the  limits 
of  Republican  majorities  are  certain  to  be  broken,  and 
the  solid  South,  Democratic  for  two  generations,  hence 
forth  will  be  no  more  than  a  political  memory. 

Virginia,  the  Carolinas,  Georgia  and  Louisiana  are 
encouraging  Republican  hopes,  and  Texas,  if  not  so 
promising  as  the  others,  is  demanding  the  reorganiza 
tion  of  the  Democratic  party,  with  restored  Jefferso- 
nianism,  and  while  it  is  at  it,  progressive,  ambitious, 
magnificent  Texas  may  go  the  whole  route  to  redemp 
tion,  and  turn  to  confident  Republicanism  for  the  reali 
zation  of  its  higher  aspirations. 

The  explanation  is  not  difficult.  The  South  is  in- 
182 


THE  PARTY  AND  AMERICA  183 

tensely  American.  It  has  come  to  a  full  realization  of 
the  advantages  of  American  nationality,  and  though 
its  representatives  in  Congress  largely  acquiesced  in 
the  proposed  surrender  of  nationality,  as  negotiated  in 
the  peace  treaty,  her  people  are  in  outspoken  opposi 
tion.  More,  the  states  of  the  South,  during  the  world 
war,  came  into  the  glow  of  fuller  American  activities, 
and  understand  the  economics  and  agencies  of  their 
continuance,  and  wish  for  the  things  which  were  urged 
and  supported  in  fifty  years  of  notable  Republican  con 
tribution  to  American  progress.  If  the  expectation  of 
new  political  alignments  in  many  states  of  the  Union  is 
too  optimistic,  I  would  still  cherish  the  hope.  In  the 
new  Americanism  which  is  the  supreme  compensation 
for  the  sorrows  and  sacrifices  which  attended  our  part 
in  the  world  war,  we  want  no  sectional  lines,  no  North, 
no  South,  no  East,  no  West.  Let  the  imaginary  lines  of 
old  prejudices  be  forgotten;  let  mountains  divide  and 
rivers  separate;  let  conditions  vary  and  methods 
change;  these  United  States,  with  one  pride,  one  con 
fidence,  one  flag  and  only  one,  henceforth  and  forever 
constitute  one  common  country. 

CIVILIZATION   NEVER  STANDS  STILL 

War's  frightful  upheaval  has  done  more  than  turn 
world  civilization  into  a  fluid  state  and  leave  us  won 
dering  what  the  new  crystallization  is  to  be.  It  did 
more  than  threaten  the  world  civilization,  first  with  the 
domination  of  autocracy,  then  in  the  crash  of  autoc 
racy  it  revealed  the  other  extremes,  and  the  eastern 
continent  faces  the  menace  of  a  destroying  democracy. 
Civilization  never  stands  still.  It  is  decadent  or  pro- 


184  REDEDICATING  AMERICA 

gressive.  In  Russia  the  trend  is  backward,  to  the 
primitive  law  of  force.  There  is  less  of  liberty  in  Rus 
sia  to-day  than  ever  complained  of  under  the  czar. 

Many  a  European  state  is  sorely  menaced,  through 
distorted  visions  which  come  of  warfare  and  its  ele 
mental  brutalities  and  unspeakable  licenses.  But  here 
in  America  an  overwhelming  majority  still  thinks 
straight,  and  we  mean  to  go  on  to  higher  and  better 
things. 

War  brought  home  to  us  a  new  appreciation  and  a 
new  realization  of  the  things  which  made  us  what  we 
are,  and  a  new  understanding  of  the  essentials  of  self- 
dependence  and  the  securities  of  national  defense.  It 
gave  us  a  new  impression  of  the  utter  necessity  of  the 
unchallenged  supremacy  of  the  law.  It  reminded  us  of 
the  existence  of  a  Federal  Constitution — through  the 
tendency  to  get  away  from  it.  It  warned  us  that  fan 
cied  isolation  and  righteous  intent  and  insistent  neu 
trality  afford  no  guaranty  against  involvement.  Aye, 
and  it  assured  us  of  the  power,  the  majesty,  the  un- 
conquerableness  of  a  great,  free  people,  patriotically 
aroused  and  conscientiously  committed. 

WE  WERE  NEGLECTFUL 

It  cautioned  us,  also,  concerning  a  weakness  in  popu 
lar  government.  Amid  proclaimed  neutrality  and  ut 
tered  wonder  at  what  the  war  was  about,  and  insisted 
"peace  without  victory,"  we  were  supine  and  neglect 
ful  about  a  possible  defense  while  millions  were  sanc 
tioning  "He  kept  us  out  of  war."  And  during  every 
hour  and  every  day  of  all  that  false  proclamation  the 
inner  administration  circles  at  Washington  knew  that 


JHE  PARTY  AND  AMERICA  185 

our  involvement  was  inevitable,  and  we  wasted  many 
precious  months  of  preparation,  which  might  have 
commanded  peace,  and  spared  us  inestimable  expendi 
ture  and  thousands  of  sacrificed  lives.  I  am  not  com 
plaining  about  the  campaign  slogan  in  the  false  appeal, 
I  am  lamenting  the  neglect  of  the  republic  to  win  an 
election.  Popular  government  will  never  be  depend 
ably  secure  until  its  political  agencies  and  its  spokes 
men  think  more  of  the  common  weal  than  of  results 
at  the  ballot-box.  I  choose  the  political  party  which 
had  rather  be  right  than  be  victorious,  and  want  the 
Republican  party  so  committed  in  this  critical  period  in 
human  progress. 

PARTIES   GOVERNMENT  AGENCIES 

Parties  are  the  agencies  through  which  representa 
tive  popular  government  is  administered.  The  found 
ing  fathers  so  intended  and  the  practise  has  given  to 
us  the  most  nearly  dependable  popular  government  the 
world  has  ever  witnessed,  and  it  made  us  what  we  are, 
no  matter  what  the  faddists  say,  about  abandoning 
political  parties.  The  same  fathers  gave  us  the  par 
ties  of  Hamilton  and  Jefferson,  so  opposed  in  prin 
ciple  and  so  firmly  founded  that,  in  spite  of  new  con 
ditions  and  the  changing  order,  they  run  true  to  form 
in  the  present  day.  Hamilton's  solid  financial  plans 
might  help  cure  the  threatening  ills  of  unduly  ex 
panded  currency,  and  his  economic  ideas  gave  us  the 
industrial  development  which  saved  the  allied  nations 
in  war  and  aided  our  own  belated  preparations  on  a 
gigantic  scale  which  had  much  to  do  with  the  turned 
tide  of  world  conflict.  On  the  other  hand  Jefferson 


186  REDEDICATING  AMERICA 

ever  opposed  a  strong  federal  power  and  attending  na^ 
tionality,  and  his  most  eminent  successor  and  his  fol 
lowers  in  the  present  day  have  sought  insistently, 
almost  obstinately,  to  rend  our  nationality  and  merge 
us  as  a  compliant  or  suppliant  state  in  a  supergovern- 
ment  of  the  world. 

DANGER   MARK  WAS   NEAR 

I  think  I  can  assure  you  the  plot  has  failed.  If  the 
people  had  voted  in  1918  as  the  White  House  edict 
commanded,  in  the  most  astounding  official  document 
ever  uttered,  we  might  to-day  be  Democratic  subjects 
of  the  autocratic  council  of  nine,  with  the  Old  World 
passing  on  the  obligations  of  this  republic;  but  since 
the  Senate  has  resumed  its  constitutional  functions,  so 
long  surrendered  in  order  to  marshal  all  our  forces  for 
national  defense,  there  will  be  no  betrayal  of  American 
nationality. 

The  war  was  not  partisan,  even  though  it  had  that 
aspect  in  the  disappointing  days  of  our  earlier  com 
mittal.  There  was  not  a  place  for  the  inspiring  Roose 
velt,  though  he  stood  on  the  ramparts  crying  out  for 
defended  Americanism.  It  was  my  fortune  to  stand 
sponsor  for  an  amendment  to  the  army  bill  which 
would  permit  him  to  go  with  a  division  of  volunteers 
while  we  were  getting  the  machinery  of  universal 
service  in  operation,  and  France  was  calling  for  him 
and  wondering  that  he  did  not  come,  yet  his  offer  was 
ignored.  In  spite  of  the  early  contradictions  the  war 
was  not  partisan,  it  was  consecrated  patriotism,  shared 
in  by  all  parties  believing  in  orderly  government,  and 
peace  might  and  ought  to  have  been  patriotic  and  the 


JHE  PARTY  AND  AMERICA  187 

treaty  disposed  of  without  partisan  division.  But  the 
president  insisted  on  making  it  partisan,  personally  if 
not  politically  partisan,  and  held  a  Senate  with  its 
"pygmy  minds" — but  with  constitutional  powers — in 
contempt.  Essentially  alone  he  negotiated  the  surren 
der  of  American  nationality,  and  still  essentially  alone, 
One  in  a  hundred  million,  he  blocks  its  final  disposition. 

COUNTRY  WANTS  FORMAL  PEACE 

Many  of  us,  nearly  all  of  us,  are  for  early  final  ac 
tion.  We  want  formal  peace.  It  could  be  brought 
about  in  a  single  day  except  for  the  president,  who  in 
sists  the  Senate  and  the  country  must  do  his  bidding. 
Europe  calls  with  her  assent,  the  allied  nations  have 
spoken  approval,  all  America  is  eager  for  the  ultimate 
decision,  yet  the  president,  and  the  president  alone, 
blocks  the  way.  If  any  one  in  America  wants  to  make 
a  campaign  issue  of  such  obstinacy,  let  it  be  so.  The 
Republican  party  will  welcome  the  responsibility  of 
Americanizing  the  treaty  and  recording  a  preference 
for  things  American. 

If  you  would  contrast  party  government  and  per 
sonal  government,  contemplate  threatened  pocketing 
of  the  treaty  if  the  Senate  does  not  bow  to  the  presi 
dential  will,  or  the  threatened  withdrawal  of  the  treaty 
if  the  council  of  foreign  powers  doesn't  revise  the 
Italian  and  Jugo-Slavic  boundaries  to  the  Wilsonian 
committal — dictatorially  withdrawing  the  sacred  cove 
nant,  which  the  Senate's  failure  to  sanction  was  going 
to  break  the  heart  of  the  world ! 

It  has  not  been  a  partisan  conflict  in  the  ordinary 
sense,  it  has  been  the  measured  test  of  constitutional 


188  REDEDICATING  AMERICA 

authority,  attended  by  many  irritations  and  a  lofty  re 
gard  for  duty.  Since  our  party  has  been  conspicuous 
in  the  defense  of  safeguarded  America,  let  us  rejoice 
as  Republicans  that  we  have  played  our  big  part  in 
maintaining  the  soul  of  American  nationality. 

We  want  this  great,  strong  republic  to  play  a  big 
nation's  part  in  contributing  and  counseling  and  par 
ticipating  in  the  promotion  and  preservation  of  peace, 
and  advancement  of  humanity  and  furthering  of  world 
civilization.  But  I  like  the  old-fashioned  Americanism 
which  arrogates  to  ourselves  the  keeping  of  the  Amer 
ican  conscience  in  all  our  foreign  relations,  and  pre 
scribes  our  own  duty  to  ourselves  and  the  world. 

WHY  MEDDLE  IN  EUROPE 

We  love  and  commend  justice  everywhere  on  earth, 
but  why  meddle  and  mess  things  up  in  Europe,  four 
thousand  miles  away,  when  there  is  plenty  to  attract 
our  attention  on  our  very  own  borders?  Mexico  af 
fronts  us,  kidnaps  our  citizens  and  murders  when  we 
do  not  ransom,  holds  American  property  rights  in  con 
tempt,  and  "watchful  waiting"  aggravates  the  trouble 
across  the  border  and  humbles  our  pride  at  home.  I 
would  rather  make  Mexico  safe  and  set  it  aglow  with 
the  light  of  New- World  righteousness  than  menace 
the  health  of  the  republic  in  Old- World  contagion. 

But  I  started  to  speak  of  party  sponsorship  and  have 
drifted  far  afield.  Government  with  party  sponsor 
ship  brings  us  closer  to  the  Constitution,  and  saves  us 
the  instability  that  characterizes  personal  government. 
Our  weakness  in  the  republic  to-day  lies  in  personal  in 
sistence  over  and  above  party  conviction.  No  man 


[THE  PARTY  AND  AMERICA  189 

ought  to  be  greater  than  his  party.  Let  the  individual 
make  his  party  great,  let  him  stamp  his  leadership  on 
party  progress,  but  the  party  must  still  remain  the 
voice  of  the  majority. 

NEED  JUDGMENT  OF  THE  MANY 

No  man,  no  official,  no  authority  ever  lived  who 
could  not  profit  in  council  and  advice.  Men  really 
worth  while  ever  welcome  it.  We  are  a  hundred  mil 
lions,  and  the  men  with  capacity  and  fitness  for  public 
service  are  not  limited  to  the  few  who  edge  into  the 
limelight  in  candidatorial  array.  We  need  the  judg 
ment  of  the  thousands  of  representative  men  who 
think  understandingly,  and  in  the  combined  judgment 
of  unselfishness  we  escape  the  dangers  which  come  of 
political  selfishness.  I  want  the  Republican  platform  to 
represent  the  convictions,  the  conscience,  the  aspira 
tions  of  the  thinking  Republicans  of  America,  let  its 
utterances  be  the  covenant  of  Republican  faith  and  the 
chart  for  a  Republican  administration.  Then  we  shall 
have  no  makeshift  of  expediency,  no  insincerity,  no 
hopeless  experiment,  no  false  appeal  for  support. 
Above  all  else,  let  it  be  a  covenant  wrought  in  good 
conscience,  and  then  pledge  all  who  call  themselves 
Republicans  to  its  sincere  support. 

For  such  failure  to  meet  the  people's  expectations 
as  our  party  must  answer  to-day,  I  answer  an  insuf 
ficient  party  sponsorship.  Nominally  we  control  the 
Senate  by  two,  but  we  number  a  few  who  profess  Re 
publican  affiliation  but  hold  themselves  above  party 
conviction.  I  cherish  the  hope  of  a  cohesive  and  con 
fident  Republican  majority  in  Congress,  with  a  party 


190  REDEDICATING  AMERICA 

committal,  where  majority  rule  abides,  and  then  co 
ordination  and  cooperation  with  Congress  arid  the  ex 
ecutive  which  shall  translate  party  promises  into  re 
corded  accomplishment. 

HAS  NO  PERSONAL  ENDS 

I  am  not  unmindful  of  current  criticism  that  I  have 
no  specific  platform.  It  is  the  truth.  I  have  no  per 
sonal  ends  to  serve  in  platform  making.  It  is  an  easy 
matter  to  say  what  I  think  the  party  ought  to  stand 
for,  and  I  should  like  a  part  in  uttering  the  judgment 
of  the  party. 

We  ought  to  resolve  to  cling  everlastingly  to  Amer 
ican  nationality  and  hold  unabridged  every  inheritance 
of  constitutional  American  liberty. 

We  ought  to  favor  not  only  the  perfected  American 
ization  of  the  republic,  but  to  hold  it  wholly  and  re 
joicingly  American  hereafter.  We  ought  to  have  it 
understood  from  this  time  on  this  is  no  mere  colloca 
tion  of  peoples  calling  themselves  Americans,  but  one 
people,  with  one  spirit,  one  soul,  one  allegiance,  one 
language  and  one  flag. 

We  might  well  pledge  ourselves  never  again  to  be  so 
unmindful  of  our  national  defense.  We  ought  to  have 
an  ample  navy,  as  our  first  line  of  defense,  We  ought 
more  than  to  keep  apace — we  ought  to  lead  the  world 
in  the  development  of  aviation  and  be  stronger  in  the 
air  than  we  are  on  the  sea.  We  ought  to  have  a  stronger 
army  than  we  have  ever  known  in  peace  heretofore, 
and  we  ought  to  have  all  the  young  manhood  of  the  re 
public  know  the  benefits  of  discipline  and  physical  bet-; 
terment  that  come  of  military  training,  but  it  ouglit  to 


THE  PARTY  AND  AMERICA  191 

be  voluntary,  not  compulsory;  supported  by  the  gov 
ernment  in  camp,  in  the  national  guard,  in  schools  and 
colleges.  It  ought  to  be  made  so  popular  and  so  help 
ful  that  young  America  would  seek  it  as  a  privilege 
rather  than  accept  it  as  a  duty  of  compulsory  require 
ment. 

SEEK  STABLE  WAYS  OF  PEACE 

We  ought  to  resolve  to  do  every  consistent  thing  to 
get  away  from  abnormal  conditions  of  war,  and  seek 
the  stable  ways  of  peace.  We  ought  to  declare  for  un 
shackling  both  of  business  and  citizenship,  and  restore 
our  boasted  freedom  under  the  Constitution.  Every 
extraordinary  war  statute  ought  to  be  promptly  re 
pealed. 

We  ought  to  declare  an  end  to  bureaucracy,  crowned 
with  autocracy,  all  excessively  commissioned,  and  turn 
again  to  government  by  law  and  free  activities  of  a 
law-abiding  people. 

We  ought  to  declare  the  Republican  party  unalter 
ably  opposed  to  government  ownership  and  national 
ization  of  industry  or  any  other  compromise  with  in 
sistent  socialism  which  proposes  to  fix  our  goal  within 
the  limits  of  mediocrity.  We  have  seen  the  experi 
ment  made  in  the  name  of  war,  not  for  war  efficiency 
or  to  meet  a  war  emergency,  but  demanded  in  an  hour 
of  peril  when  our  people  were  thinking  only  of  dangers 
from  without,  and  unheeding  of  menaces  developing 
within.  The  failure  has  been  convincing. 

We  ought  to  about  face  on  war's  extravagant  expen 
diture,  and  get  to  thinking  in  millions  again,  instead  of 
incomprehensible  billions.  War-time  burdens  in  time 
of  peace  show  scant  consideration  of  uncomplaining 


192  REDEDICATING  AMERICA 

patriotism,  and  high  cost  of  government  is  the  first 
cause  of  the  high  cost  of  living  about  which  we  all  so 
earnestly  complain.  We  must  become  sane  in  expen 
diture  to  recover  our  poise,  and  government  itself  must 
be  an  example  of  economy  to  its  citizenship  and  hark 
back  to  thrift  as  the  security  of  good  fortune. 

FOR  AMERICAN  SQUARE  DEAL 

We  must  pause  to  reflect  that  the  American  square 
deal,  which  is  the  essence  of  all  just  government,  must 
apply  to  all  American  citizenship  alike  and  is  the  due 
of  righteous  business  without  which  we  do  not  pros 
per,  is  the  right  of  the  American  farmer  without 
whom  we  can  not  subsist,  is  our  pledge  to  the  American 
workman  whose  good  fortune  is  essential  to  both  tran 
quillity  and  continued  advance.  We  must  consult  them 
all,  and  be  dominated  by  none.  I  do  not  think  a  man's 
business  success  makes  him  ineligible  to  advise  or  par 
ticipate  in  government.  I  do  not  believe  the  farmer's 
uncomplaining  patriotism  in  war  will  be  fittingly  re 
warded  until  he  comes  into  closer  and  more  influential 
council  in  seeking  the  highest  good  fortune  of  all  the 
American  people,  and  must  himself  fully  share  the 
fruits  of  our  achievement. 

For  the  American  wage-earner  the  problem  is  more 
pressing,  because  there  is  the  attempted  development 
of  class  consciousness,  which  is  always  a  peril  to  pop 
ular  government.  We  ought  to  have  no  class  antago 
nism  in  this  republic,  because  the  fundamental  law  con 
templates  every  man  precisely  alike  and  grants  equal 
rights  to  all.  Special  privilege  belongs  to  no  man,  no 
body  of  men,  whether  their  might  is  wealth  or  knowl- 


THE  PARTY  AND  AMERICA  193 

edge  or  in  weight  of  numbers.     And  influence  isn't 
government,  but  a  perversion  of  it. 

The  surest  index  to  advancing  civilization  is  the  ele 
vated  scale  of  life  and  higher  rewards  of  the  men  who 
toil.  War  has  left  new  levels,  and  we  shall  never  re 
turn  to  the  old.  It  is  just  as  certain  as  anything  can 
be  that  a  new  proportion  has  come  in  the  division  of 
the  profits  of  production,  and  labor's  share  will  never 
grow  less.  I  do  not  know  that  the  war  scale  of  wages 
will  abide,  but  wages  in  themselves  do  not  constitute 
the  true  measure  of  compensation.  If  wages  are  dou 
bled  and  the  cost  of  living  is  more  than  doubled,  labor 
has  lost  rather  than  gained.  The  real  test  of  compen 
sation  is  what  remains  between  the  sale  of  a  day's 
work  and  the  cost  in  making  it,  which  is  the  balance  of 
trade  underlying  all  acquirement. 

DREAMER  NEEDS  AWAKENING 

The  dreamer  who  expects  an  old-time  cost  of  living 
and  present-day  wages  is  in  need  of  waking.  But  in 
creased  efficiency,  added  pride  in  production  and  ear 
nest  endeavor  for  a  better  order  will  contribute  toward 
reduction,  and  still  the  restlessness  with  which  the 
world  is  threatened. 

The  world  needs  production.  It  needs  work,  more 
work,  and  still  more  work.  Production  will  stabilize 
the  world's  exchanges.  Production  will  challenge  the 
lie  about  freedom  in  seizure  by  force  and  government 
founded  on  physical  might.  Seizure  is  the  destruction 
of  civil  liberty,  and  ends  all  justice  and  destroys  old 
order. 

America  has  no  problem  transcending  in  importance 


194  REDEDICATING  AMERICA 

the  establishment  of  agencies  to  secure  our  industrial 
peace.  No  man  can  ever  be  made  to  work  against  his 
will  in  free  America,  and  the  student  of  modern  de 
velopments  in  industry  who  thinks  to  destroy  unionism 
and  collective  bargaining  little  understands  the  new  or 
der.  Unionism  has  liberated,  it  must  not  enslave.  Col 
lective  strength  has  wrought  great  progress,  but  it  must 
not  assume  dictation.  The  thoughtful  wage-earners  of 
America  would  not  have  it  so.  They  want  a  square 
deal,  and  it  is  their  due.  They  ask  justice,  no  one  ought 
proffer  less.  But  government  fails  if  it  does  not  find 
the  agency  for  ministering  that  justice,  and  it  must ; 
and  it  fails  worse  if  it  does  not  prohibit  the  conspiracy 
which  may  halt  any  public  service  or  in  any  way  im 
peril  the  health  and  lives  of  the  people  through  par 
alyzed  production  and  transportation  of  life's  necessi 
ties.  The  problem  can  not  be  ignored.  It  demands  the 
conscience  and  the  courage  and  the  intelligence  of  par 
ties  and  men  and  the  government  which  they  constitute. 
Let  the  square  deal  illumine  the  way — a  square  deal 
that  gives  a  thought  to  all  the  people  and  the  common 
good  aft  well  as  those  who  dwell  in  class  consciousness. 

MUST  REITERATE  WHOLESOME  POLICIES 

The  Republican  party  may  reiterate  a  score  of  poli 
cies  which  have  stood  the  test  of  developing  years,  and 
are  still  orthodox  and  wholesome.  That  is  because 
they  are  convictions,  not  paramountings  to  meet  mo 
mentary  conditions. 

Let  some  one  jog  a  dependable  memory  and  recall 
a  paramount  issue  of  the  Democratic  party  that  ever 
grew  to  the  ripe  age  of  ten  years.  It  can't  be  done.  I 


THE  PARTY  AND  AMERICA"          195 

did  think  anti-imperialism  and  anti-expansion  of  two 
decades  ago  were  going  to  have  a  comeback,  but  De 
mocracy  forgot  its  apprehensions  in  its  visions  of  Co 
lumbia  presiding  at  the  world's  tea  party,  held  in  Ge 
neva. 

^The  menace  of  a  treasury  surplus  (blessed  mem 
ory  !)  and  the  crime  of  demonetization  have  gone  jaz 
zing  down  the  corridors  of  time,  to  give  place  to  pro 
posed  government  ownership  in  the  heroic  hour  of  its 
proven  failure. 

Republicans  may  renew  every  expression  ever  made 
relating  to  an  American  merchant  marine,  and  events 
will  approve  and  aspirations  will  acclaim.  War  found 
us  almost  helpless,  because  of  our  dependence  on  Eu 
rope  for  shipping,  and  the  submarine  threat  to  destroy 
all  shipping.  We  turned  to  building  in  great  haste  and 
appalling  extravagance. 

We  know  now  that  we  can  not  operate  profitably  un 
der  the  inefficiency  of  government  ownership  and  con 
trol.  Any  big  and  real  development  must  come  of 
the  initiative  and  inspiration  of  private  enterprise.  I 
would  sell  the  vessels,  rapidly  as  we  can  find  buyers,  at 
what  they  are  fairly  worth,  but  buyers  who  are  Amer 
icans  and  pledge  American  operation  under  the  Amer 
ican  flag. 

I  would  not  sacrifice  the  selling  cost  to  cloak  a  gi 
gantic  subsidy.  Suppose  these  ships  have  cost  two 
and  a  half  billions — it  will  be  more — and  suppose  we 
sold  at  forty  per  cent,  off,  there  would  be  a  hidden  sub 
sidy  of  a  billion  dollars.  That  would  be  burdening  ex 
cessively  the  people  of  to-day  to  pay  for  a  development 
that  must  bless  the  next  generation.  No  subsidy  ever 
proposed  exceeded  eight  millions  a  year. 


196 '  REDEDICATING  AMERICA 


BELIEVES  IN  GOVERNMENT  AID 

I  believe  in  government  aid,  in  subsidy  or  subven 
tion.  But  I  want  it  in  the  open,  and  on  the  square. 
We  have  the  LaFollette  seaman's  act,  providing  work 
ing  conditions — and  attending  wages — which  no  other 
seamen  in  all  the  world  enjoy.  Let  us  accept  it  as  the 
conscience  of  America,  and  frankly  admit  that  it  han 
dicaps  American  shipping  in  world  competition.  No 
use  to  dodge  the  issue.  To  deal  fairly  then  we  must 
extend  a  fostering  government  aid  to  make  up  the  dis 
advantage.  There  isn't  any  sentiment  in  world  compe 
tition.  If  we  fix  standards  for  Americans  on  the  sea, 
it  is  our  business  to  help  maintain  them. 

A  few  years  ago,  the  Senate  Committee  on  Com 
merce  was  conferring  with  the  distinguished  Democrat 
who  then  headed  the  shipping  board.  The  problem,  of 
maintaining  our  merchant  ships  on  the  Pacific  was  un 
der  consideration,  and  I  asked  this  opponent  of  Re 
publican  policies  what  chance  our  ships  had  of  outrid 
ing  Oriental  competition.  "None  in  the  world,  without 
federal  aid,"  he  replied,  "and  in  saying  it  I  contra 
dict  all  I  have  said  in  thirty  years'  opposition  to  any 
subsidy  plan." 

We  may  speak  sincerely  in  favoring  a  reformed  sys 
tem  of  conducting  the  government's  business  affairs. 
Call  it  the  budget  system  or  call  it  applied  common 
sense,  we  need  the  change  which  either  contemplates. 
Perhaps  we  might  call  a  budget  commission  the  federal 
treasury  guard,  and  it  does  need  guarding,  my  coun 
trymen.  Everybody  wants  a  pull  at  the  seemingly  in 
exhaustible  abundance  in  Uncle  Sam's  strong  box,  and 


THE  PARTY  AND  AMERICA  197 

the  revelation  of  the  possible  returns  from  excess 
profits  taxes  and  income  surtaxes  has  excited  genius 
to  new  ways  of  expenditure.  We  must  call  a  halt.  We 
prostitute  with  profligacy  on  the  one  hand  and  burden 
to  paralysis  on  the  other.  The  whole  scheme  of  fed 
eral  taxation  and  expenditure  needs  intelligent  and 
businesslike  revision,  and  waste  must  stop  for  de 
cency's  sake  and  extravagance  must  end  for  the  coun 
try's  sake* 

OURS  NOT  UNGRATEFUL  REPUBLIC 

I  have  not  thought  to  cover  all  the  points  in  a  Re 
publican  covenant  for  1920.  There  will,  of  course,  be 
a  grateful  and  conscientious  mind  fulness  for  the  vet 
erans  of  the  world  war.  Ours  shall  be  no  ungrateful 
republic.  We  shall  go  on,  not  alone  promising  the 
government's  full  part  in  the  uplift  of  humanity  at 
home,  but  perform  in  good  conscience.  We  mean  to 
progress  and  be  progressive.  Nobody  thinks  of  reac 
tion,  but  it  is  good  to  keep  our  feet  on  earth  and  cling 
to  the  wisdom  of  experience  as  well  as  quaff  the  cup 
of  experiment.  We  have  proven  the  capacity  of  the 
Republican  party  to  restore,  to  preserve,  to  advance, 
to  exalt.  The  country  has  turned  to  us  before,  and 
never  appealed  in  vain.  I  know  our  answer  in  the  con 
test  before  us  will  be  a  new  reverence  for  the  Constitu 
tion,  a  new  consecration  to  one  hundred  per  cent. 
Americanism,  renewed  assurance  of  American  oppor 
tunity,  renewed  pledges  of  representative  popular  gov 
ernment,  and  guaranteed  preservation  of  nationality, 
held  secure  under  the  supremacy  of  law  and  depend 
able  American  public  opinion. 


CHAPTER  XIV 
PROBLEMS  OF  BUSINESS 


Address  before  the  Providence  Chamber  of  Commerce. 
at  Providence,  Rhode  Island,  February  2$,  1920 

NOTHING  surpasses  the  romance  in  the  evolution  of 
American  manufacturing.  I  am  thinking  of  farm  man 
ufacturing  as  well  as  the  shop.  The  farmer  who  turns 
soil  and  moisture  and  sunshine  into  food  is  no  less  a 
manufacturer  than  he  who  turns  wool  or  cotton  into 
fabrics  or  iron  ore  into  a  steel  watch  spring.  And 
their  interests  are  mutual,  no  matter  how  their  methods 
may  vary,  and  the  good  fortune  of  both  is  highly  es 
sential  to  the  welfare  of  our  common  country. 

Farm  production  and  the  manufacture  of  products 
by  skilled  artisans  were  relatively  simple  in  earlier 
days.  The  age  of  machinery  and  quantity  production 
wrought  the  transformation  in  both.  It  wrought  com 
plexity  and  inter-dependence,  and  inevitably  govern 
ment  became  involved. 

EVOLUTION  OF  MODERN  BUSINESS 

There  was  an  independence  when  the  farmer  spun 
his  own  cloth,  and  tanned  his  own  hides,  and  made  his 
own  soap  and  packed  his  own  meats,  an  independence 
no  longer  experienced  except  in  communities  far  re 
moved  from  trade. 

198 


THE  PROBLEMS  OF  BUSINESS        199 

There  was  a  phase  to  the  activities  of  the  individual 
and  self-reliant  craftsman,  with  a  soul  in  his  work, 
which  has  been  lost  in  the  evolution.  There  are,  of 
course,  compensations  for  the  losses  involved,  but  the 
inspirations  of  fifty  years  ago  might  well  be  recalled. 
Some  few  years  ago,  in  a  far-off  fishing  village  in  Can 
ada,  I  called  on  the  boot-maker,  who  was  the  one  con 
spicuous  manufacturer  of  his  community.  The  foot 
wear  of  quantity  production  had  not  found  favor  in 
that  primitive  spot.  He  told  me  he  made  boots  for 
customers  thirty  miles  away,  and  I  liked  his  boast  that 
he  "made  the  best  boots  in  all  Canada."  He  had  pride 
in  his  workmanship. 

I  delight  to  recall  the  village  days  when  the  local 
blacksmith,  often  a  philosopher  and  ever  interesting  as 
a  gossip,  turned  out  his  own  make  of  wagon  or  car 
riage,  and  the  fame  of  his  excellence  was  his  chief 
compensation.  We  have  lost  much  of  that  spirit  in 
these  modern  days.  Specialized  skill  of  to-day  un 
doubtedly  surpasses  all  previous  attainment,  but  the 
spirit  of  superior  endeavor  is  lost  to  the  mass  of  work 
men  in  modern  complexity. 

It  is  not  true  that  we  have  wholly  sacrificed  quality 
for  quantity,  but  we  have  sacrificed  much  of  pride  in 
individual  endeavor.  One  of  the  supreme  compensa 
tions  in  life  is  pride  in  a  thing  done.  We  never  shall 
know  again  the  wide-spread  individual  pride  in  the 
work  wrought,  but  we  shall  have  a  new  spirit  and 
more  of  contentment  in  America  if  somehow  we  can 
add  the  compensation  of  pride  to  the  wage  that  is  paid. 


200  ^DEDICATING  AMERICA 

AMERICA  GREATEST  PRODUCER 

It  is  gratifying  to  say  American  manufacture  pro 
duces  most  largely  in  all  the  world.  But  we  never 
shall  know  the  supreme  heights  until  we  can  boast 
truly  that  American  manufacture  is  the  best  in  the 
world.  In  many  lines  we  do  excel,  and  we  rejoice 
thereat.  But  it  is  still  a  very  common  experience  to 
ask  for  the  best  in  shop  or  salesroom,  and  find  our 
selves  pricing  an  imported  product.  I  want  to  hail 
the  day  when  any  purchaser  seeks  the  best  he  is  sure 
to  be  offered  an  American  product. 
N  Not  so  very  far  from  Providence,  a  few  months  ago, 
I  visited  a  factory  in  a  line  of  production  in  which  my 
own  state  of  Ohio  is  conspicuous,  and  in  which  line 
France  and  England  are  famous  for  their  excellence. 
There  was  a  most  unusual  spirit  in  this  American  plant, 
and  I  talked  with  workmen  to  get  its  meaning.  "Oh, 
sir,"  said  one  employee,  "this  is  a  fine  shop  in  which 
to  work.  We  are  resolved  to  surpass  the  world,  and 
we  are  doing  it."  Later  on  I  caught  the  reflex  from 
the  directing  head.  I  had  seen  the  wares  and  paid  my 
tribute  of  admiration.  When  I  remarked  that  we  had 
seemingly  larger  plants  in  my  own  state,  he  said  simply 
but  with  inspiriting  pride :  "Oh,  yes !  Immensity  is  not 
our  goal.  I  felt  America  ought  to  rival  if  not  excel 
Old- World  production,  and  we  are  proving  it.  That's 
our  glory." 

WORKMEN  NOT  MERE  MACHINES 

My  point  is  that  the  workmen  in  that  shop  were  not 
mere  cogs  in  a  great  wheel  of  industry,  but  were  liv 
ing,  vital,  aspiring  agencies  in  an  American  triumph, 
who  shared  the  pride  in  the  achievement  wrought. 


[THE  PROBLEMS  OF  BUSINESS        201. 

I  have  cited  it  before,  but  am  tempted  to  repeat — in 
the  very  midst  of  appeals  to  our  treasury  for  generous 
loans,  one  appealing  nation  in  Europe  was  proposing 
to  loan  thirty  millions  to  a  South  American  state,  with 
the  avowed  purpose  of  favoring  the  trade  relations.  I 
do  not  criticize  the  European  state,  I  cite  the  instance 
to  remind  ourselves  of  the  importance  now  and  ever  of 
thinking  of  America  first. 

I  would  like  to  drive  home  the  truth  of  the  larger 
sponsorship  of  the  captain  of  industry  of  to-day  for 
the  weal  or  woe  of  every  community.  In  the  com 
plexity  of  modern  development  we  have  thexgrouped 
activity,  and  the  inter-dependence  of  the  many  in  col 
lective  endeavor.  In  olden  days  a  producer  could  stop 
without  halting  the  great  procession.  Nowadays  the 
paralysis  of  one  group  hinders  the  whole. 

HUMANISM   SHOULD  BE  DEVELOPED 

Conditions  have  been  evolved  where  the  tendency  is 
to  get  away  from  the  human  side,  when  it  ought  to  be 
more  intimately  considered.  That  is  why  business  has 
been  brought  into  closer  contact  with  government, 
though  business  itself  has  inherited  a  freedom  from 
the  very  beginning  of  civilization. 

Government  has  been  called  to  halt  monopoly,  and 
strike  at  assumed  privilege,  and  end  exploitation. 
Some  times  it  has  gone  too  far  in  interference,  but 
there  had  to  be  a  commanding  voice  in  opposition  to 
greed  and  greed's  unmindfulness.  The  disappointment 
has  been  in  the  tendency  to  punish  the  offending  while 
seeking  out  those  who  really  offended.  And  into  the 


202  REDEDICATING  AMERICA  ' 

well-meant  effort  to  effect  through  government  what 
individual  conscience  refused  to  do,  has  come  the  in 
trusion  of  socialist  and  revolutionist  in  government 
interference,  until  government  itself  has  come  to  need 
reformation  to  rid  it  of  reformers.  The  greatest  men 
ace  in  America  to-day  comes  from  those  who  have 
crept  into  service  in  the  name  of  patriotism  and  seek 
in  positions  of  authority  to  undermine  the  system 
which  has  made  us  what  we  are.  I  believe  the  repub 
lic  is  more  endangered  by  the  invasion  of  public  service 
by  the  peaceful  socialist  than  it  is  threatened  by  the 
radical  who  seeks  destruction  by  force. 

MANY  COMMISSIONS  USELESS 

Countless  inspections  and  endless  reports,  and  ex 
pert  interference  are  not  so  much  designed  to  improve 
as  they  are  calculated  to  destroy.  It  is  my  observation 
that  a  righteous  law  is  more  effective  and  far  less 
costly  than  a  score  of  commissions,  and  no  factor  in 
American  life  is  so  responsive  to  law's  requirements 
as  industry  and  commerce. 

No  one  is  so  menacing  to  material  success  and  its  at 
tending  human  progress  as  the  fine  theorist  who  never 
trimmed  a  lamp  of  experience.  No  man  has  a  good 
right  to  criticize  business  until  he  knows  something 
about  it.  No  theorizing  agent  of  government  or  prog 
ress  is  fitted  to  prescribed  rules  of  manufacture  until 
he  has  learned  the  ways  of  production  from  experi 
ence  and  trod  the  paths  of  pay  rolls  and  paid  other  ob 
ligations.  If  government  is  to  be  insistent  on  direct 
ing  business,  it  must  have  somebody  connected  with  its 
activities  who  knows  about  business. 


THE  PROBLEMS  OF  BUSINESS.        203 

I  do  not  mean  that  business  should  dominate  gov 
ernment.  No  class,  no  group  in  the  republic  shall 
dominate  the  government.  Nor  need  business  expect 
special  privilege.  It  deserves  a  square  deal,  no  more, 
no  less,  and  that  is  the  inviolable  right  of  everybody 
under  the  Constitution.  But  I  know  of  no  reason  why 
business  or  manufacturing  success  should  make  a  man 
ineligible  to  advise  or  to  serve  in  a  befitting  govern 
ment  capacity.  On  the  other  hand,  a  success  in  one 
endeavor  doesn't  prove  a  man's  infallible  capacity. 
Many  a  dollar-a-year  man  came  to  government  aid  in 
patriotic  fervor,  and  wasn't  worth  one-half  his  cost. 

TOO  MUCH   REGULATION 

We  shackled,  regulated,  restrained,  reproved  and 
revised  during  the  war,  and  it  was  accepted  as  a  war 
necessity,  but  now  we  are  at  peace,  actual  peace  if  not 
formal  peace,  and  it  is  time  to  unshackle.  We  need 
vastly  more  production  than  we  do  regulation,  and  we 
need  the  restored  freedom  of  business  and  men. 

There  will  be  no  return  to  pre-war  conditions  in  in 
dustry  or  commerce.  The  world  has  been  in  upheaval. 
For  us  the  rutted  paths  of  trade  have  been  wiped  out 
and  new  avenues  await.  Old  industrial  proportions 
have  been  effaced,  and  capital  and  workmen  are  facing 
a  new  order.  The  larger  wage  will  abide — it  has  been 
the  legacy  of  war  since  our  republic  began.  If  there 
comes  with  the  larger  compensation  to  workmen  not 
only  restored  but  enhanced  efficiency,  it  will  mark  a 
splendid  advancement.  Without  the  added  efficiency 
it  will  prove  a  backward  step. 


204  REDEDICATING  AMERICA 


MINIMIZED  PRODUCTION  DESTRUCTIVE 

Minimized  production  is  only  a  little  less  destructive 
than  acquirement  through  force  and  seizure,  and  the 
heresy  of  life  and  ease,  without  work,  challenges  the 
very  fundamentals  of  human  life  and  achievement. 
Let  Russia  make  her  experiment  in  soviet  democracy. 
The  tragedy  is  deepened  by  the  abridgement  of  liberty, 
and  the  end  of  security,  but  her  masses  are  driven  so 
hard  and  for  such  long  hours  that  they  haven't  the 
time  to  realize  it.  Her  great  experiment  has  failed  in 
every  attempt  in  all  recorded  history,  and  will  fail 
again,  because  it  ignores  the  gift  of  genius,  the  might 
of  industry  and  the  power  of  thrift. 

Meanwhile  it  is  ours  to  cling  to  that  which  has  made 
us  what  we  are.  We  mean  to  preserve  liberty,  and  lib 
erty's  highest  gift  is  opportunity.  Ours  is  equal  op 
portunity  to  all  men  and  reward  according  to  merit. 
It  is  the  underlying  foundation  of  industrial  America. 
Its  inspiration  led  us  in  outstripping  the  world  in  in 
dustrial  development  and  founded  a  commerce  which 
America  may  becomingly  boast. 

I  want  the  government  to  preserve  it,  and  bid  the 
sons  of  this  republic  to  go  on  to  achievement.  Oppor 
tunity  and  protection  in  righteous  acquirement  was  a 
covenant  of  the  fathers,  and  I  want  the  nation  to  pre 
serve  the  contract  made  in  the  American  beginning. 

Keeping  contracts  is  one  of  the  higher  functions  of 
government  and  men.  Kept  contracts  between  nations 
would  have  made  the  world  war  impossible.  Kept  con 
tracts  ought  to  be  the  guaranty  of  industrial  peace. 


THE  PROBLEMS  OF  BUSINESS        205 

COLLECTIVE  BARGAINING  FAVORED 

I  believe  in  the  collective  bargaining  of  workmen, 
so  long  as  it  does  not  deny  any  American  the  fulness 
of  his  freedom.  But  the  bargain  must  be  binding  on 
all  parties  to  the  contract.  In  the  evolution  of  indus 
trial  conditions  that  must  be  established.  More,  the 
government  which  thinks  of  America  first  will  seek 
the  establishment  of  some  great  and  just  tribunal  at 
home  which  will  end  all  conflict  in  production  and 
distribution,  which  will  make  sure  of  full  justice  and 
make  paralysis  impossible,  and  that  act  alone  will  con 
tribute  more  to  world  peace  and  world  advancement 
than  any  dream  of  internationalism  and  attending 
American  sponsorship  for  Old- World  troubles. 

INCREASED  PRODUCTION  NEEDED 

Production  is  the  call  of  the  world  to-day.  It  is 
the  one,  and  only  one  agency,  of  world  restoration. 
Out  of  production  in  the  fields  and  farms,  out  of 
manufacture  in  the  workshop,  out  of  wealth  in  the 
mines  must  come  the  correction  of  empty  purses  and 
depleted  treasuries  of  European  peoples.  It  will  be 
the  supreme  conflict  of  peace  for  the  needed  recovery. 
Self-preservation  will  impel.  There  is  no  need  to  re 
strict  or  destroy  at  home.  We  shall  play  the  big  Amer 
ican  part  by  adding  to  our  power  and  widening  our  in 
fluence  and  continuing  our  development,  under  the  se 
curities  of  representative  popular  government,  and 
prove  to  the  world  that  liberty  lies  in  the  supremacy 
of  law,  and  orderly  government  is  humanity's  best  in 
heritance. 


CHAPTER  XV 
THE  EXCESS  PROFITS  TAX 

Address  in  the  United  States  Senate,  Feb 
ruary  27,  19  if 

IT  has  not  been  my  thought  at  any  time,  Mr.  Presi 
dent,  to  cry  out  against  placing  the  just  burdens  of 
taxation  on  the  wealth  of  the  land,  I  do  not  know  that 
wealth,  corporate  or  individual,  has  been  more  clamor 
ous  in  the  cause  of  preparedness  than  any  other  ele 
ment  in  our  American  life.  I  do  not  think  it  has  more 
at  stake.  I  do  know  from  personal  observation  that 
those  who  represent  both  corporate  and  individual 
wealth  are  ever  ready  to  bear  their  just  burdens  of  tax 
ation  ;  and  it  goes  without  the  saying  that  corporate 
wealth  is  the  most  available  we  have  to  reach  in  the 
normal  processes  of  taxation,  particularly  by  the  state 
or  local  subdivision.  Its  tangible  property  is  as  readily 
reached  as  any  other,  and  in  the  modern  processes  of 
reporting  corporate  possessions  its  tangible  holdings 
are  made  more  evident  than  that  of  any  individual 
holder.  So,  then,  in  the  normal  processes  of  collecting 
taxes  wealth  encounters  its  just  burdens  under  the 
ordinary  procedure. 

HEAVY  TAX  BURDEN  NECESSARY 

In  recent  years  there  has  grown  up  a  process  of 
adding  extra  tax  burdens,  some  of  which  I  have  no 
desire  to  complain  against.  I  think  most  of  them  have 

206 


THE  EXCESS  PROFITS  TAX  207 

been  accepted  without  complaint,  and  if  it  were  neces 
sary  to  provide  for  the  national  defense,  or  if  it  were 
necessary  in  a  time  of  emergency  to  meet  the  vast 
extraordinary  expenditures  incident  to  war,  I  believe 
there  would  be  no  serious  complaint  at  the  most 
extraordinary  proposal  made  in  the  pending  bill. 

But  I  am  objecting  to  it,  Mr.  President,  as  I  stated 
yesterday,  first,  because  it  is  unnecessary;  second, 
because  it  is  class  taxation,  and  very  unfair  and  danger 
ous  as  well;  and  third,  because  it  is  utterly  imprac 
ticable  to  make  a  just  imposition  and  collection  of  the 
taxes. 

WHAT  CONSTITUTES  REAL  CAPITAL 

For  the  moment,  that  section  which  has  been  passed 
over  in  the  consideration  of  the  Committee  of  the 
Whole  I  want  to  revert  to.  I  refer  to  the  conflict  made 
manifest  in  our  legislation  regarding  what  constitutes 
the  real  capital  of  a  corporation.  Last  September, 
when  we  passed  a  revenue  act  levying  corporations 
throughout  the  land,  we  provided  not  only  in  the  law, 
but  in  the  administration  of  it,  since,  that  a  fair  value 
of  capital  stock  should  be  the  value  of  the  stock  itself, 
and  the  surplus  and  undivided  profits.  The  Inter 
nal  Revenue  Department,  in  securing  the  necessary 
statements  for  the  levying  of  this  tax,  has  passed  a 
rule  that  certain  intangibles  shall  be  included  in  the 
assets  of  the  corporations  in  order  to  fix  the  value  on 
which  it  must  pay  this  tax. 

I  alluded  yesterday  to  the  fact  that  the  statement 
required  of  a  corporation  calls  for  monthly  quotations 


208  REDEDICATING  AMERICA 

of  the  market  value  of  the  stock.  I  think  it  is  manifest 
to  such  senators  as  are  interested  in  the  subject  that 
one  can  not  dependably  fix  the  value  of  a  stock  by  the 
market  quotations.  There  are  sometimes  outside  in 
fluences  that  give  a  momentary  value  to  capital  stock 
that  is  quite  out  of  proportion  to  its  real  value.  I 
need  not  enumerate  the  various  influences  which  may 
bring  about  such  a  situation,  and  it  would  be  very  diffi 
cult  for  any  government  agency  to  undertake  to  assess 
or  fix  a  valuation  on  the  various  stocks  of  the  cor 
porate  organizations  of  this  land  by  means  of  market 
quotations,  and  any  process  of  valuation  would  be  even 
more  difficult. 

Noting  that  perfectly  impossible  undertaking,  I  have 
wished  to  suggest  to  the  sponsors  for  this  bill  that 
they  provide  an  amendment  and  say  if  we  are  to  have 
this  eight  per  cent,  tax  on  the  profits  in  excess  of  eight 
per  cent,  on  the  capital  stock,  the  amount  of  capital  of 
the  institution  shall  be  accepted  in  accordance  with  the 
representation  of  its  value  made  under  the  revenue  act 
of  last  September.  Surely  the  government  does  not 
expect  one  line  of  reporting  putting  a  high  valuation 
on  the  assets  of  a  corporation  for  the  purpose  of  col 
lecting  a  tax  on  the  stock  issued,  and  then  reverse  its 
policy  and  put  a  low  valuation  on  the  capital  stock 
in  order  to  minimize  the  exemption  from  the  excess 
profits  tax. 

I  am  repeating  this  point  which  I  hope  in  some  way 
unknown  to  me  will  reach  the  ears  of  the  sponsors 
for  this  bill.  It  would  be  a  fair  and  perfectly  logical 
thing  to  do,  and  would  eliminate  from  the  proposed 


THE  EXCESS  PROFITS  TAX  209 

law  the  uncertainties  and  the  unending  conflict  of 
fixing  a  value  upon  which  there  shall  be  exemptions 
from  the  proposed  tax. 

LOOKING  FORWARD  TO  PEACE 

Mr.  President,  I  do  not  mean  to  revert  again  fo  A 
thing  that  is  so  much  in  my  mind,  namely,  the  avoid 
ance  of  a  measure  like  this  if  the  party  to  which  I 
belong  were  able  to  write  the  revenue  laws.  I  am 
very  well  aware  that  neither  Congress  nor  the  public 
is  deeply  interested  just  now  in  a  tariff  discussion. 
About  the  only  thing  that  awakens  our  lively  interest 
is  something  relating  to  the  great  world  conflict  which 
is  now  raging,  and  the  possible  involvement  of  our 
own  nation.  It  is  a  rather  prosy  thing  to  discuss  so 
selfish  and  materialistic  a  proposition  as  the  industrial 
and  business  interests  of  our  own  country.  But  never 
theless,  Mr.  President,  unless  the  world  has  gone  hope 
lessly  mad  there  must  soon  come  an  end  to  this  conflict, 
and  whatever  may  be  the  result  in  the  adjustment  of 
peace,  there  must  come  the  after-conflict  which  grows 
out  of  the  ambitions  and  rivalries  of  commercial  and 
industrial  nations. 

Marked  as  must  be  the  anxiety  of  the  allied  powers 
on  whose  commerce  the  submarine  warfare  is  now 
being  waged  without  mercy  or  consideration,  anxious 
as  must  be  the  European  nations  which  are  involved 
in  this  unspeakable  conflict,  it  is  a  fact  nevertheless, 
Mr.  President,  that  throughout  the  anxieties  and  trials 
there  is  being  given  serious  thought  to  what  must  be 
the  industrial  and  commercial  aftermath. 

I  was  very  much  interested  to  read,  not  very  long 


210  REDEDICATING  AMERICA 

since,  a  statement  by  Lloyd  George  that  no  matter  how 
enormous  must  be  the  figures  which  represent  the  cost 
of  the  conflict  to  Great  Britain,  the  people  of  England 
were  in  a  large  part  compensated  by  the  industrial 
awakening  which  has  come  through  the  war,  that  they 
had  scrapped  their  antiquated  methods,  they  had  in 
stilled  a  new  spirit  and  developed  new  strength  in 
their  industrial  enterprises,  and  that  they  were  better 
prepared  on  that  account  to  enter  the  conflicts  of  the 
peace  of  the  world  which  are  to  come,  much  better 
fitted  to  reestablish  themselves  than  they  were  to  hold 
their  own  before  the  war  came. 

BUSINESS  SHOULD  BE  ENCOURAGED 

Only  within  a  day  or  two  I  was  very  much  interested 
to  read  that  aside  from  the  spiritual  awakening  of 
France  and  a  rebirth  of  patriotism  in  that  country, 
there  was  compensation  in  the  war  in  that  it  had 
brought  new  application,  new  concern,  and  new  de 
velopment  in  the  industrial  resources  of  France,  so 
that  France,  too,  is  looking  forward  hopefully  to  its 
part  in  the  conflicts  or  the  contests  of  peace  which  are 
to  come  after  the  war. 

I  need  not  speak  of  the  policy  of  the  industrial  pre 
paredness  of  the  Imperial  Government,  or  the  land 
rather,  of  Germany.  The  wonderful  development 
of  Germany  has  made  it  the  most  formidable  com 
mercial  rival  of  the  United  States  that  we  had,  and  I 
think  it  is  not  unfair  to  say  that  the  formidable  char 
acter  of  the  German  development  had  its  part  in  bring 
ing  about  the  war  which  is  now  waging. 

These  contemplations,   Mr.   President,  lead  me  to 


JHE  EXCESS  PROFITS  TAX  211 

the  point  I  am  seeking  to  make,  namely,  that  instead 
of  penalizing  organized  efforts  in  the  United  States 
under  corporate  form,  instead  of  levying  an  unjust 
burden  on  success  in  this  country,  it  would  be  well 
for  these  United  States  even  now,  when  the  mind  of 
the  world  is  focused  on  war,  to  give  a  thought  to  the 
promotion  of  our  own  preparedness  for  the  contests 
which  are  soon  to  follow. 

It  is  not  possible,  of  course,  in  a  short  session  of 
Congress,  and  would  not  be  possible  in  the  long  session 
with  the  present  majority  in  control,  to  rewrite  the 
tariff  laws  of  this  country.  I  shall  not  be  greatly  sur 
prised,  however,  if  in  the  providence  of  political  ma 
jorities  the  dominant  party  continues  in  control,  that 
its  representatives  may  be  forced  to  rewrite  the  tariff 
laws  of  the  country.  But  I  recognize  the  impossibility 
at  this  session  of  securing  a  revision.  I  regret  that  the 
party  to  which  I  belong  can  offer  nothing  constructive 
at  this  time  as  a  substitute  for  the  pending  measure. 

FOREIGN   PRODUCER  SHOULD  ASSIST 

But  I  have  said  the  essential  thing,  Mr.  President, 
that  under  the  Republican  policy  of  protection  along 
lines  of  duties  which  existed  under  the  last  Republican 
protective  measure  we  would  be  collecting  on  the 
present  imports  of  the  United  States  of  America 
essentially  a  quarter  of  a  billion  dollars  more  than  we 
collect  under  existing  laws.  In  my  judgment  it  would 
be  a  wise  policy  to  put  that  burden  of  a  quarter  of  a 
billion  on  the  foreign  producer  who  seeks  the  Ameri 
can  market  and  take  off,  or  rather  hold  from,  the 
American  producer  the  quarter  of  a  biUion  that  is 


212  REDEDICATING  AMERICA 

proposed  to  be  put  on  him  as  a  class  tax  under  the 
enactment  of  this  law. 

Mr.  President,  I  was  very  much  interested  when  I 
first  came  to  the  Senate,  some  fifteen  months  ago,  to 
hear  the  discussion  which  took  place  at  the  time  re 
lating  to  the  extension  of  the  so-called  war  emergency 
tax.  I  was  very  greatly  impressed  by  a^  remark  made 
by  the  junior  senator  from  Alabama  (Mr.  Under 
wood),  whom  I  esteem  so  highly  that  I  do  not  quote 
him  in  any  contentious  mood. 

I  heard  the  senator  say,  Mr.  President,  last  Decem 
ber,  in  defense  of  the  tariff  measure  which  bears  his 
name,  that  we,  meaning  the  Democratic  party  or  the 
majority  in  Congress,  had  enacted  a  bit  of  legislation 
which  has  taken  the  burdens  of  taxation  from  the 
backs  of  the  people  who  are  less  able  to  bear  them,  and 
have  put  those  burdens  on  those  who  are  best  fitted  to 
bear  them.  I  assume  that  the  latter  statement  makes 
reference  to  the  income  tax,  with  which,  I  may  empha 
size,  I  am  finding  no  fault,  Mr.  President,  but  I  do  not 
accept  the  statement  of  the  senator  from  Alabama  that 
he  took  the  burdens  from  those  less  able  to  bear  them, 
because  experience,  which  is  proof  beyond  all  dispute, 
shows  that  the  burdens  were  not  removed,  and  whether 
war  be  altogether  to  blame  or  not,  there  has  been  a 
constant  increase  in  the  cost  of  the  necessities  of  life, 
not  only  during  the  pending  war  but  for  many  months 
prior  to  its  outbreak. 

PROTECTIVE  TARIFF  NEEDED 

I  do  not  believe,  Mr.  President,  that  it  is  within  the 
genius  of  any  statesman  who  ever  lived  to  reduce  the 


[THE  EXCESS  PROFITS  TAX  213 

Cos?  of  living  by  any  reduction  of  the  tariff.  You  can 
never  reduce  the  cost  of  living  except  as  you  reduce 
capacity  to  live.  So,  then,  if  I  may  bring  myself  back 
to  the  theme  which  I  have  in  mind,  I  wish  it  were  pos 
sible  to  turn  from  the  policy  of  putting  a  perfectly 
needless  and  unjustifiable  burden  on  the  corporate  and 
partnership  industries  of  the  country,  and  collect  it, 
as  we  have  from  almost  time  immemorial  under  Re 
publican  policies,  from  those  who  enter  into  competi 
tion  for  our  American  prosperity. 

However,  Mr.  President,  that  alone  is  nof  my  point. 
There  is  pending  in  this  body  a  measure  known  as  the 
Webb  Bill,  recommended  by  the  chief  executive,  de 
signed  to  encourage  the  cooperation  of  the  markets  of 
the  world.  I  will  be  very  glad  to  vote  for  that  measure 
myself.  I  can  see  the  necessity  for  it.  We  have 
reached  an  age  of  big  things  in  the  world.  We  have 
gotten  away  from  the  time  when  the  individual  is  the 
chief  factor  in  our  productive  and  commercial  life.  If 
you  want  to  find  the  individual  with  a  small  undertak 
ing,  who  is  accomplishing  even  a  little  in  the  world, 
you  must  go  to  the  very  outskirts  of  civilization. 

I  remember  last  year,  or  the  year  before,  I  was  trav 
eling  in  northern  Canada  on  a  fishing  trip,  and  away 
up  on  the  outskirts  of  civilization  I  found  an  old- 
fashioned  shoemaker  who  was  taking  orders  and  indi 
vidual  measurements  and  making  boots  and  shoes  after 
the  method  that  prevailed  in  this  country  about  forty 
years  ago.  That  would  not  be  possible  in  the  state  of 
Maryland  or  Pennsylvania  or  New  Jersey.  He  had 
gotten  away  beyond  the  contacts  of  active  civilization, 
and  there  the  individual  was  still  thriving  with  its  lit- 


214  REDEDICATING  AMERICA 

tie  industry ;  but  in  our  greater  American  activities  we 
have  come  to  the  age  of  great  things,  and  these  great 
accomplishments  have  been  wrought  by  the  association 
of  capital  and  men. 

I  think,  Mr.  President,  that  that  process,  if  we  mean 
to  hold  America  in  its  eminence,  ought  to  be  encour 
aged,  and  not  penalized,  as  the  pending  bill  proposes, 
and  I  can  not  understand  why  Congress  will  propose 
such  a  thing.  If  there  were  any  avoidance  of  payment 
of  the  burdens  which  properly  belong  to  these  organ 
izations,  if  they  were  a  hurt  or  a  hindrance  to  our 
American  progress,  instead  of  being  a  contributing 
agency,  then  such  a  course  might  well  be  justified ;  but 
these  institutions  are  the  things  which  make  us  what 
we  are. 

BUSINESS  NEEDS  ENCOURAGEMENT 

There  is  not  a  community  in  the  United  States,  Mr. 
President,  to-day  that  would  not  hold  a  jollification 
meeting  if  some  one  were  able  to  announce  the  coming 
of  a  new  corporate  organization  that  would  establish 
an  industry  in  that  community.  I  have  heard  the  la 
mentation  in  the  city  of  Washington,  this  great  capital, 
in  the  press  and  in  certain  circles,  that  one  of  the  draw 
backs  to  the  capital  city,  and  one  of  the  difficulties  in 
finding  sufficient  tax  values  to  make  the  District's  treas 
ury  show  as  it  ought,  lies  in  the  fact  that  it  has  not  any 
industrial  institutions.  I  have  never  grieved  at  that 
myself.  I  have  thought  perhaps  the  capital  city  would 
answer  the  aspirations  of  the  American  people  better 
if  it  were  distinctly  a  capital  city  rather  than  a  typical 
American  industrial  city. 


THE  EXCESS  PROFITS  TAX  215 

The  point  I  am  trying  to  get  at  is  that  the  Congress 
of  the  United  States,  instead  of  adding  this  excessive 
class  burden,  ought  to  reverse  the  policy  absolutely, 
and  seek  to  find  means  for  the  encouragement  and  the 
upholding  of  the  arms  of  American  industry  at  a  time 
when  we  are  soon  to  face  the  new  competition  of  the 
world. 

That  is  not  alone,  Mr.  President,  because  we  have 
held  a  distinctly  peculiar  position ;  it  is  more  partic 
ularly  because,  through  the  fortunes  of  the  world  in 
volvement  and  our  being  thus  far  able  to  hold  our 
selves  aloof,  we  have  accumulated  the  great  bulk  of  the 
gold  of  the  world;  and  the  nation  that  is  able  to  buy 
offers  the  inviting  market.  The  contending  nations  of 
Europe,  no  matter  what  the  terms  of  peace  may  be, 
must  rehabilitate  themselves,  and  they  are  going  to  seek 
this  market,  and  the  ingenuity  and  the  methods  long 
since  proven  and  the  desperation  of  the  situation  are 
going  to  give  Europe  a  hold  on  American  markets.  I 
had  rather  vote  for  a  revenue  system,  Mr.  President, 
that  will  hold  American  markets  for  Americans,  first, 
rather  than  add  unfair  burdens  to  those  who  are  seek 
ing  to  hold  these  markets  with  their  own  activities. 
Let  us  aim  to  hold  them  our  very  own  rather  than  open 
them  up  to  the  assaults  of  the  competition  of  the  earth. 

WASHINGTON'S  ADVICE  APPLICABLE 

It  is  only  a  day  or  two  since  we  were  reading  the 
farewell  address  of  the  father  of  our  country.  I  won 
der  how  many  of  you  caught  the  significance  of  a 
phrase  in  that  farewell  address.  I  think  it  applies  to 
the  thing  of  which  I  am  speaking.  Washington  said, 


216  REDEDICATING  AMERICA 

in  substance:  "Our  people  must  ever  be  on  guard 
against  the  misrepresentations  which  come  of  envy  and 
jealousy,  for  these  tend  to  render  alien  to  one  another 
those  who  ought  to  be  bound  in  the  ties  of  fraternity/' 
I  wonder  if  he  did  not  mean  those  who  preached  the 
gospel  of  envy  and  hate ;  those  who  appealed  to  class 
prejudice;  those  who  make  their  appeals  to  the  less 
successful,  who  are  inevitably  and  ever  will  be  in  the 
majority.  There  is  no  help  for  that.  I  do  not  know 
whether  you  want  to  question  the  wisdom  of  God  Al 
mighty;  I  will  not:  but  He  did  not  create  men  with 
equal  ability,  and  He  did  not  endow  men  alike  with 
enterprise  and  industry  and  thrift.  There  ever  will  be 
these  differences,  and  I  had  rather  do  something  to 
compose  them,  so  far  as  I  can,  than  to  make  an  utter 
ance  or  to  vote  for  a  class  of  legislation  which  tends  to 
magnify  those  differences. 

TAX  IS  PENALTY  ON  SUCCESS 

Why  object  to  the  proposed  tax?  This  eight  per 
cent,  tax  on  excess  profits  is  a  penalty  on  success,  and 
I  make  bold  to  say,  Mr.  President,  that  eight  per  cent, 
profit  on  a  man's  investment  is  not  sufficient  if  you  ex 
pect  to  have  any  further  American  development.  Mr. 
President,  I  am  myself  an  advocate  of  a  fairer  division 
of  the  profits  of  production  in  these  United  States,  and 
if  I  knew  how  to  do  it,  I  would  be  standing  here  now 
advocating  some  system  which  would  result  in  a  fairer 
division  between  capital  and  labor  of  the  profits  of 
their  cooperation.  That  is  an  entirely  different  ques 
tion,  however,  from  a  government  penalty  on  success, 
and  I  make  bold  to  say  that  if  eight  per  cent,  is  to  be. 


THE  EXCESS  PROFITS  TAX  217 

the  limitation  of  profits  for  developing  capital  in  this 
country,  American  development  will  soon  come  to  a 
standstill.  Eight  per  cent,  money  never  lighted  a  fur 
nace  fire  in  these  United  States ;  eight  per  cent,  money 
never  laid  a  rail  or  stretched  a  wire  or  opened  a  mine. 
Eight  per  cent,  return  is  big  for  conservative  capital 
which  is  in  the  greater  abundance,  but  conservative 
capital  is  of  the  type  that  picks  out  a  demonstrated 
possibility,  and  then  invests  in  the  thing  that  is  already 
developed,  sometimes  adding  to  its  increment  through 
increased  efficiency  that  may  well  be  applied;  but 
American  development  has  been  wrought  by  capital 
which  makes  its  venture  in  the  hope  of  a  larger  earn 
ing  than  eight  per  cent. 

Look  at  the  banker.  The  average  American  banker 
is  well  satisfied  with  six  per  cent,  on  his  capital  and  a 
guaranty  against  loss;  but,  Senators,  American  de 
velopment  has  its  chance  to  take;  there  is  the  ad 
venture  of  business,  and  our  remarkable  development 
in  the  last  sixty  years,  which  is  ten  times  that  of  any 
other  nation  on  the  face  of  the  earth,  is  due  to  this 
spirit  of  gambling  in  the  human  being  whereby  a  man 
is  willing  to  take  his  capital  and  add  to  it  his  energies 
and  his  genius  and  his  pluck  and  determination  in  the 
hope  that  the  combination  of  these  things  will  result  in 
a  profitable  achievement.  That  is  what  has  made  us 
what  we  are. 


CHAPTER  XVI 
AUTO-INTOXICATION 

Address  before  Baltimore  Press  Club  at  Baltimore, 
Maryland,  February  $,  1920 

THE  doctors  of  medicine  frequently  diagnose  a  very 
common  human  ill  as  auto-intoxication.  The  symp 
toms  are  restlessness,  irritability,  often  a  disturbed 
circulation,  sometimes  a  temperature,  and  always  an 
incapacity  to  do  things.  Auto-intoxication  is  poison  ab 
sorbed  from  within.  Incorrect  or  excessive  diet  prob 
ably  contributes,  impaired  elimination  magnifies  the 
ailment.  Prognosis  is  not  difficult.  The  trouble  is 
seldom  fatal,  but  it  is  distressing. 

Sometimes  I  think  our  country  has  a  bad  case  of 
auto-intoxication.  Many  people  urge  that  our  ills  are 
largely  traceable  to  the  influence  of  the  foreigner. 
The  major  troubles  do  not  come  from  that  source, 
and  never  will  unless  we  attempt  to  digest  supergovern- 
ment  of  the  world,  and  there  is  no  danger  of  that  since 
the  Senate  has  resumed  its  constitutional  functions. 

TOO  MUCH  HIGH  LIVING 

The  poison  which  disturbs  the  nerves  and  makes 
restless  and  irritable  the  American  body  politic  doesn't 
originate  in  the  foreigner  who  has  come  among  us, 
but  you  can  trace  that  ailment  to  the  American-born 

218 


AUTO-INTOXICATION  219< 

revolutionist  or  the  agitator  cloaked  in  adopted  citizen 
ship  who  plays  upon  the  credulity  or  the  ignorance  of 
his  foreign  victim. 

Our  auto-intoxication  is  due  in  the  main  to  the  high 
living  and  the  excesses  and  abnormal  indulgences  inci 
dent  to  war,  when  there  was  little  repose  and  impaired 
elimination.  I  do  not  know  that  I  can  prescribe  the 
cure,  but  I  know  a  way  to  remove  the  cause.  Stop 
the  excesses,  omit  the  indigestible  things,  get  to  the 
healthful  exercise  of  honest  toil,  give  nature  a  change 
with  pure  air  and  physical  activity  and  take  a  stimulant 
to  aid  elimination,  along  with  a  bit  of  practical  mental 
science  which  all  doctors  agree  is  helpful  in  curing  all 
bodily  ills. 

Break  the  shackles  of  war-time  legislation  for 
both  business  and  citizens,  because  the  war  is  actually 
ended,  no  matter  how  much  delayed  is  the  formal 
declaration  of  peace.  Cut  out  the  extravagance  of 
government  and  individuals,  give  us  the  normal  ways 
of  government  and  of  men,  and  the  cure  will  be 
effected. 

BACK  TO  THE  CONSTITUTION 

It  will  speed  the  restoration  to  get  back  to  the  Con 
stitution,  and  stand  on  it  immovably.  This  great  funda 
mental  law  of  the  United  States  of  America  is  un 
matched  in  all  constructive  effort  to  establish  popular 
government  since  the  world  began.  It  made  us  what 
we  are.  No  one  has  proposed  a  substitute  that  has 
any  guaranty  of  liberty.  No  one  disputes  that  it  and 
its  guaranties  apply  to  every  man  precisely  alike,  and 
every  man  in  America  who  doesn't  subscribe  heartily 


220  REDEDICATING  AMERICA 

and  loyally  to  the  Constitution  ought  to  go  to  Russia 
or  some  other  land  of  tragic  experiment.  In  the  ful 
ness  of  our  liberty  he  has  the  freedom  to  choose,  but 
if  he  stays  to  enjoy  American  advantages  he  must 
subscribe  to  the  fundamental  law  on  which  our  orderly 
government  is  founded. 

No  one  proposes  to  modify  our  representative  de 
mocracy.  No  pure  democracy  has  survived  since  civi 
lization  dawned.  Ours  is  representative,  where  de 
pendable  and  intelligent  public  opinion  is  crystallized 
into  law,  and  political  parties  are  the  agencies  through 
which  public  opinion  is  expressed,  and  are  the  spon 
sors  for  the  kept  pledges  of  public  utterance.  Ours 
is  a  government  by  party,  and  he  who  advocates  the 
abandonment  of  the  system  proposes  a  departure  from 
the  Constitution  and  invites  the  instability  of  personal 
government  which  has  been  destructive  to  every  re 
public  since  popular  government  was  first  conceived. 

PARTY  GOVERNMENT  NECESSARY 

Those  who  complain  at  the  inefficiency  of  party 
government  are  really  criticizing  the  substitute  which 
they  propose,  because  every  weakness  of  the  present 
day  is  chargeable  to  the  impaired  party  system. 
Partisanship  can  be  put  aside  for  a  great  national 
emergency,  when  the  menace  comes  from  without, 
as  the  great  war  has  proven,  but  party  sponsorship 
is  the  guaranty  of  accomplishment  in  meeting  the 
problems  of  peace.  In  the  things  which  were  heralded 
as  reforms,  we  have  impaired  party  effectiveness,  and 
Washington  reveals  it  to-day  as  never  before.  Wash 
ington  and  Jefferson  were  believers  in  parties,  so  was 


AUTO-INTOXICATION  221 

Hamilton  the  genius  of  the  formative  period.  Lincoln 
was  a  partisan  in  the  extreme,  and  it  helped  rather 
than  hindered  the  mighty  achievement  which  pre 
served  union  and  nationality.  Grover  Cleveland  was  a 
staunch  believer  in  party  government  and  left  the 
stamp  of  the  greatest  Democrat  of  his  time  on  the 
progress  of  his  day.  McKinley  was  a  notable  advocate 
of  party  sponsorship,  and  wrought  his  great  achieve 
ments  through  party  councils  and  attending  responsi 
bility.  Roosevelt  was  no  less  an  advocate  of  party 
agency,  and  when  he  challenged  the  course  of  his 
party  he  led  the  organization  of  another,  because  party 
is  essential  to  translate  public  opinion  into  the  laws  and 
policies  of  the  republic.  When  failure  attended,  he 
instantly  recommitted  himself  to  the  Republican  party, 
resolved  to  cure  its  weaknesses,  because  there  was 
no  other  course  to  the  accomplishment  he  sought. 

HEART  OF  AMERICA  STILL  SOUND 

To  alter  our  political  system  now,  after  the  marvel 
of  American  achievement,  would  be  the  abandonment 
of  that  which  made  us  what  we  are,  and  endangers 
the  republic  more  than  the  threat  of  destruction  by 
force.  Of  course,  it  will  not  succeed.  The  Constitu 
tion  abides.  The  heart  of  the  republic  is  right.  Let 
the  world  reveal  its  restlessness,  and  experiment  as  it 
will.  These  United  States  will  cling  to  the  liberties 
which  are  magnified  in  restraint,  and  hold  fast  to  the 
inheritance  of  the  inspired  fathers.  Having  wrought 
to  the  astonishment  and  admiration  of  the  world  and 
the  matchless  advancement  of  our  own  people  in  less 
than  a  century  and  a  half,  we  will  move  confidently 


222  REDEDICATING  AMERICA 

on,  unafraid,  to  a  greater  and  more  glorious  fulfill 
ment. 

It  is  ours  to  excel  our  shipping  of  the  early  days 
of  the  republic.  We  ought  to  have  possessed  a  mer 
chant  marine  when  war  involved  us.  Ample  shipping 
then  would  have  shortened  the  conflict  a  year  and 
saved  millions  of  lives  and  billions  in  treasure.  We 
must  have  a  great  merchant  marine  for  the  future. 
In  war's  anxiety  and  unavoidable  extravagance  we 
builded  millions  of  tons  of  shipping.  It  isn't  worth 
all  it  cost,  but  it  is  the  greatest  physical  asset  the  war 
preparation  has  left  us.  We  must  make  it  the  agency 
of  greater  commercial  prestige,  the  prestige  of  a  right 
eous  commerce.  We  must  take  these  ships  out  of  the 
inefficiency  of  government  ownership  and  let  them  be 
come  the  instruments  of  widened  American  activities 
and  influence  in  the  hands  of  private  enterprise. 

GOVERNMENT  OWNERSHIP  OPPOSED 

We  may  as  well  settle  the  issue  of  government 
ownership.  It  is  poor  compromise  with  paralyzing 
socialism,  and  America  will  not  have  it.  We  must  not 
only  have  the  initiative  and  efficiency  of  private  opera 
tion,  fittingly  subject  to  governmental  needs,  but  we 
need  the  inspiration  as  well,  and  government  aid  in 
the  successful  inauguration  of  the  needed  lines  for 
trade.  A  government  that  has  expended  billions  with 
out  heed  for  shipping  need  never  hesitate  a  helping 
government  hand  in  giving  us  a  merchant  marine 
which  will  be  the  highest  agency  of  good  fortune  in 
peace  and  is  a  proven  necessity  amid  the  perils  of  war. 
Let  our  ship  be  the  bearer  of  the  American  message 
of  peace  and  amity  to  all  the  world. 


CHAPTER  XVII 
BACK  TO  NORMAL 

Address  before  Home  Market  Club  at  Boston, 
Massachusetts,  May  14, 


THERE  isn't  anything  the  matter  with  world  civiliza 
tion,  except  that  humanity  is  viewing  it  through  a 
vision  impaired  in  a  cataclysmal  war.  Poise  has  been 
disturbed  and  nerves  have  been  racked,  and  fever  has 
rendered  men  irrational;  sometimes  there  have  been 
draughts  upon  the  dangerous  cup  of  barbarity  and 
men  have  wandered  far  from  safe  paths,  but  the  hu 
man  procession  still  marches  in  the  right  direction. 

Here,  in  the  United  States,  we  feel  the  reflex,  rather 
than  the  hurting  wound,  but  we  still  think  straight, 
and  we  mean  to  act  straight,  and  mean  to  hold  firmly 
to  all  that  was  ours  when  war  involved  us,  and  seek 
the  higher  attainments  which  are  the  only  compensa 
tions  that  so  supreme  a  tragedy  may  give  mankind. 

NORMAL  CONDITIONS  GREAT  NEED 

America's  present  need  is  not  heroics,  but  healing; 
not  nostrums  but  normalcy  ;  not  revolution,  but  restor 
ation  ;  not  agitation,  but  adjustment  ;  not  surgery,  but 
serenity  ;  not  the  dramatic,  but  the  dispassionate  ;  not 
experiment,  but  equipoise;  not  submergence  in  inter- 
nationality,  but  sustainment  in  triumphant  nationality. 

223 


224  REDEDICATING  AMERICA 

It  is  one  thing  to  battle  successfully  against  world 
domination  by  military  autocracy,  because  the  infinite 
God  never  intended  such  a  program,  but  it  is  quite 
another  thing  to  revise  human  nature  and  suspend 
the  fundamental  laws  of  life  and  all  of  life's  acquire 
ments. 

FORMAL  PEACE  SOUGHT 

The  world  called  for  peace,  and  has  its  precarious 
variety.  America  demands  peace,  formal  as  well  as 
actual,  and  means  to  have  it,  regardless  of  political 
exigencies  and  campaign  issues.  If  it  must  be  a 
campaign  issue,  we  shall  have  peace  and  discuss  it 
afterward,  because  the  actuality  is  imperative,  and  the 
theory  is  only  illusive.  Then  we  may  set  our  own 
house  in  order.  We  challenged  the  proposal  that  an 
armed  autocrat  should  dominate  the  world;  it  ill  be 
comes  us  to  assume  that  a  rhetorical  autocrat  shall 
direct  all  humanity. 

This  republic  has  its  ample  tasks.  If  we  put  an  end 
to  false  economics  which  lure  humanity  to  utter  chaos, 
ours  will  be  the  commanding  example  of  world  leader 
ship  to-day.  If  we  can  prove  a  representative  popular 
government  under  which  a  citizenship  seeks  what 
it  may  do  for  the  government  rather  than  what  the 
government  may  do  for  individuals,  we  shall  do  more 
to  make  democracy  safe  for  the  world  than  all  armed 
conflict  ever  recorded.  The  world  needs  to  be  re 
minded  that  all  human  ills  are  not  curable  by  legisla 
tion,  and  that  quantity  of  statutory  enactment  and  ex 
cess  of  government  offer  no  substitute  for  quality  of 
citizenship. 


BACK  TO  NORMAL  225 


SHOULD  SEEK  UNDERSTANDING 

The  problems  of  maintained  civilization  are  not  to 
be  solved  by  a  transfer  of  responsibility  from  citizen 
ship  to  government,  and  no  eminent  page  in  history 
was  ever  drafted  by  the  standards  of  mediocrity. 
More,  no  government  is  worthy  of  the  name  which 
is  directed  by  influence  on  the  one  hand,  or  moved  by 
intimidation  on  the  other. 

Nothing  is  more  vital  to  this  republic  to-day  than 
clear  and  intelligent  understanding.  Men  must  under 
stand  one  another,  and  government  and  men  must 
understand  each  other.  For  emergence  from  the 
wreckage  of  war,  for  the  clarification  of  fevered  minds, 
we  must  all  give  and  take,  we  must  both  sympathize 
and  inspire,  but  must  learn  griefs  and  aspirations, 
we  must  seek  the  common  grounds  of  mutuality. 

WORK  IS  SOLUTION 

There  can  be  no  disguising  everlasting  truths. 
Speak  it  plainly,  no  people  ever  recovered  from  the 
distressing  waste  of  war  except  through  work  and 
denial.  There  is  no  other  way.  We  shall  make  no 
recovery  in  seeking  how  little  men  can  do,  our  restora 
tion  lies  in  doing  the  most  which  is  reasonably  possible 
for  individuals  to  do.  Under  production  and  hateful 
profiteering  are  both  morally  criminal,  and  must  be 
combated.  America  can  not  be  content  with  minimums 
of  production  to-day,  the  crying  need  is  maximums. 
If  we  may  have  maximums  of  production  we  shall 
have  minimums  of  cost,  and  profiteering  will  be 
speeded  to  its  deserved  punishment.  Money  values 


226  REDEDICATING  AMERICA 

are  not  destroyed,  they  are  temporarily  distorted.  War 
wasted  hundreds  of  billions,  and  depleted  world  store 
houses,  and  cultivated  new  demands,  and  it  hardened 
selfishness  and  gave  awakening  touch  to  elemental 
greed.  Humanity  needs  renewed  consecrations  to 
what  we  call  fellow  citizenship. 

Out  of  the  supreme  tragedy  must  come  a  new  order 
and  a  higher  order,  and  I  gladly  acclaim  it.  But  war 
has  not  abolished  work,  has  not  established  the  pro 
cesses  of  seizure  or  the  rule  of  physical  might.  Nor 
has  it  provided  a  governmental  panacea  for  human  ills, 
or  the  magic  touch  that  makes  failure  a  success.  In 
deed,  it  has  revealed  no  new  reward  for  idleness,  no 
substitute  for  the  sweat  of  a  man's  face  in  the  contest 
for  subsistence  and  acquirement. 

SUPREMACY  OF  LAW 

There  is  no  new  appraisal  for  the  supremacy  of  law. 
That  is  a  thing  surpassing  and  eternal.  A  contempt 
for  international  law  wrought  the  supreme  tragedy, 
contempt  for  our  national  and  state  laws  will  rend 
the  glory  of  the  republic,  and  failure  to  abide  the 
proven,  laws  of  to-day's  civilization  will  lead  to  tem 
porary  chaos. 

No  one  need  doubt  the  ultimate  result,  because  im 
mutable  laws  have  challenged  the  madness  of  all  ex 
periment.  But  we  are  living  to-day,  and  it  is  ours  to 
save  ourselves  from  colossal  blunder  and  its  excessive 
penalty. 


BACK  TO  NORMAL  '227 


PRODUCTION  IS  GREAT  NEED 

My  best  judgment  of  America's  needs  is  to  steady 
down,  to  get  squarely  on  our  feet,  to  make  sure  of  the 
right  path.  Let's  get  out  of  the  fevered  delirium  of 
war,  with  the  hallucination  that  all  the  money  in 
the  world  is  to  be  made  in  the  madness  of  war  and 
the  wildness  of  its  aftermath.  Let  us  stop  to  consider 
that  tranquillity  at  home  is  more  precious  than  peace 
abroad,  and  that  both  our  good  fortune  and  our  emi 
nence  are  dependent  on  the  normal  forward  stride  of 
all  the  American  people. 

Nothing  is  so  imperative  to-day  as  efficient  produc 
tion  and  efficient  transportation,  to  adjust  the  balances 
in  our  own  transactions  and  to  hold  our  place  in  the 
activities  of  the  world.  The  relation  of  real  values  is 
little  altered  by  the  varying  coins  of  exchange,  and 
that  American  is  blind  to  actualities  who  thinks  we  can 
add  to  cost  of  production  without  impairing  our  hold 
in  world  markets.  Our  part  is  more  than  to  hold,  we 
must  add  to  what  we  have. 

It  is  utter  folly  to  talk  about  reducing  the  cost  of  liv 
ing  without  restored  and  increased  efficiency  or  produc 
tion  on  the  one  hand  and  more  prudent  consumption  on 
the  other.  No  law  will  work  the  miracle.  Only  the 
American  people  themselves  can  solve  the  situation. 
There  must  be  the  conscience  of  capital  in  omitting 
profiteering,  there  must  be  the  conscience  of  labor  in 
efficiently  producing,  there  must  be  a  public  con 
science  in  restricting  outlay  and  promoting  thrift. 

Sober  capital  must  make  appeal  to  intoxicated 
wealth,  and  thoughtful  labor  must  appeal  to  the  radical 


228  REDEDICATING  AMERICA 

who  has  no  thought  of  the  morrow,  to  effect  the 
needed  understanding.  Exacted  profits,  because  the 
golden  stream  is  flooding,  and  pyramided  wages  to 
meet  a  mounting  cost  that  must  be  halted,  will  speed 
us  to  disaster  just  as  sure  as  the  morrow  comes,  and 
we  ought  to  think  soberly  and  avoid  it.  We  ought  to 
dwell  in  the  heights  of  good  fortune  for  a  generation 
to  come,  and  I  pray  that  we  will,  but  we  need  a  bene 
diction  of  wholesome  common  sense  to  give  us  that 
assurance. 

SOBER  THINKING  URGED 

I  pray  for  sober  thinking  in  behalf  of  the  future 
of  America.  No  worth-while  republic  ever  went  the 
tragic  way  to  destruction,  which  did  not  begin  the 
downward  course  through  luxury  of  life  and  extrava 
gance  of  living.  More,  the  simple  living  and  thrifty 
people  will  be  the  first  to  recover  from  a  war's  waste 
and  all  its  burdens,  and  our  people  ought  to  be  the  first 
recovered.  Herein  is  greater  opportunity  than  lies  in 
alliance,  compact  or  supergovernment.  It  is  America's 
chance  to  lead  in  example  and  prove  to  the  world  the 
reign  of  reason  in  representative  popular  government 
where  people  think  who  assume  to  rule. 

No  overall  fad  will  quicken  our  thoughtfulness. 
We  might  try  repairs  on  the  old  clothes  and  simplicity 
for  the  new.  I  know  the  tendency  to  wish  the  thing 
denied,  I  know  the  human  hunger  for  a  new  thrill, 
but  denial  enhances  the  ultimate  satisfaction,  and 
stabilizes  our  indulgence.  A  blase  people  13  the  un- 
happiest  in  all  the  world. 


BACK  TO  NORMAL;"  229 

It  seems  to  me  singularly  appropriate  to  address 
this  membership  an  additional  word  about  production. 
I  believe  most  cordially  in  the  home  market  first  for 
the  American  product.  There  is  no  other  way  to 
assure  our  prosperity.  I  rejoice  in  our  normal  ca 
pacity  to  consume  our  rational,  healthful  consumption. 

SAVE  AMERICA  FIRST* 

We  have  protected  our  home  market  with  war's 
barrage.  But  the  barrage  has  lifted  with  the  passing  of 
the  war.  The  American  people  will  not  heed  to-day, 
because  world  competition  is  not  yet  restored,  but 
the  morrow  will  soon  come  when  the  world  will  seek 
our  markets  and  our  trade  balances,  and  we  must 
think  of  America  first  or  surrender  our  eminence. 

The  thought  is  not  selfish.  We  want  to  share  with 
the  world  in  seeking  becoming  restoration.  But 
peoples  will  trade  and  seek  wealth  in  their  exchanges, 
and  every  conflict  in  the  adjustment  of  peace  was 
founded  on  the  hope  of  promoting  trade  conditions. 
I  heard  expressed,  before  the  Foreign  Relations  Com 
mittee  of  the  Senate,  the  aspirations  of  nationality  and 
the  hope  of  commerce  to  develop  and  expand  aspiring 
peoples.  Knowing  that  those  two  thoughts  are  in 
spiring  all  humanity,  as  they  have  since  civilization 
began,  I  can  only  marvel  at  the  American  who  consents 
to  surrender  either.  There  may  be  conscience,  hu 
manity  and  justice  in  both,  and  without  them  the 
glory  of  the  republic  is  done.  I  want  to  go  on,  secure 
and  unafraid,  holding  fast  to  the  American  inheritance 
and  confident  of  the  supreme  American  fulfillment. 


CHAPTER  XVIII 
THE  PHILIPPINE  ISLANDS 

Address  in  the  United  States  Senate  Friday, 
January  28,  1916. 

MR.  PRESIDENT — I  have  felt,  naturally,  the  diffidence 
of  a  new  member  in  undertaking  to  participate  in 
the  debate  on  the  pending  measure  relating  to  the 
Philippine  Islands.  I  have  listened  with  that  reverence 
which  must  come  to  one  who  is  new  in  this  chamber 
to  the  progress  of  the  debate  with  rather  conflicting 
emotions,  until  I  have  finally  reached  the  conclusion 
that  one  from  Ohio  ought  at  least  to  give  a  reason  for 
his  vote,  that  one  who  comes  from  the  state  of  him 
who  led  in  placing  our  flag  in  the  Philippines,  and 
from  the  state  of  him  who  laid  the  foundation  of  our 
American  civilization  there,  ought  at  least  to  voice 
his  protest  against  the  proposed  bill. 

We  are  not  moved  in  Ohio  by  that  fear  of  the  greed 
of  the  East,  as  suggested  by  the  senator  from  Arkan 
sas,  nor  is  the  undercurrent  of  our  dependable  thought 
materially  changed  by  the  clamorous  call  for  radical 
reformation.  I  think  the  current  of  thought  in  the 
great  Middle  West  goes  unerringly  on,  uninfluenced  by 
either.  Our  judgment,  as  I  have  seen  it  attested  in 
Ohio,  is  that  the  United  States  of  America  has  no 
right  and  has  no  reason  to  extend  a  benevolent  pro- 

230 


THE  PHILIPPINE  ISLANDS  231 

tectorate  over  the  Philippine  Islands  without  control, 
and  I,  for  one,  Mr.  President  and  Senators,  mean  to 
vote  against  the  pending  bill. 

There  is  a  very  familiar  expression,  Mr.  President, 
originally  uttered  by  a  very  distinguished  member  of 
this  body  long  since  gone.  I  think  he  was  at  the  time 
troubled  with  the  problem  of  the  resumption  of  specie 
payments.  In  the  course  of  his  discussion  of  the 
problem  in  an  administrative  capacity,  he  uttered  that 
famous  dictum,  "The  way  to  resume  is  to  resume"; 
and  I  want  to  say  that  the  way  to  grant  Philippine 
independence  is  to  grant  it.  If  I  should  use  the 
language  sometimes  used  on  the  streets,  I  would  say 
the  practical  way  to  grant  the  Philippine  Islands  their 
independence  is  to  let  them  work  out  their  own  des 
tiny. 

AMERICA  HAS  OBLIGATION 

When  the  pending  measure  of  the  senator  from 
Nebraska  was  first  under  discussion  in  the  Senate, 
the  debate  took  rather  a  curious  turn.  I  was  very 
much  interested  in  the  persistent  use  of  the  word  "self- 
government."  Well,  Mr.  President,  self-government 
is  one  thing  and  popular  self-government  is  quite 
another  thing.  If  we  mean  to  grant  the  Philippine 
Islands  their  independence,  it  is  none  of  our  business 
what  kind  of  government  they  have.  It  may  well  be 
an  autocracy ;  it  may  be  a  despotism ;  they  may  prefer 
a  dictatorship;  or  they  may,  and  most  likely  will, 
attempt  a  republic  like  that  of  China,  which  recently 
flashed  a  moment  on  the  firmament  of  republics  as  a 
sort  of  triumph  of  rational  over  dollar  diplomacy, 


232  REDEDICATING  AMERICA 

and  then  again  faded  from  the  firmament.  What 
business  is  it  of  ours  if  the  Filipino  people  have  the 
inalienable  right  of  independence  what  kind  of  govern 
ment  they  may  choose  to  have?  We  accepted  the 
sponsorship ;  and  if  that  is  binding,  we  have  no  right  to 
set  them  adrift.  If  it  is  not  binding,  the  majority  in 
this  chamber  ought  to  vote  unanimously  to  set  them 
adrift  at  the  earliest  possible  day;  and  I  warn  you, 
Senators  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  house,  that  you 
are  breeding  trouble  for  the  United  States  of  America 
every  day  you  delay  doing  so  under  the  promises  of 
the  Democratic  party. 

But,  Mr.  President,  the  question  now  on  the  amend 
ment  pending  is  not  one  on  the  character  of  govern 
ment  in  the  Philippine  Islands ;  it  is  not  what  sort  of  a 
basic  law  or  fundamental  government  we  shall  pre 
scribe  for  them ;  it  has  come  to  be  the  great  question  of 
Philippine  independence,  and  I  am  opposed  to  it,  Mr. 
President,  for  two  striking  reasons.  In  the  first  place, 
the  granting  of  Philippine  independence  changes  the 
policy  of  the  government  of  the  United  States  of 
America  from  the  very  beginning.  In  the  second 
place,  it  alters  a  policy  of  the  United  States  of  America 
for  the  last  seventeen  years,  under  which  we  have 
made  the  most  magnificent  contribution  to  the  history 
of  unselfish  nationality  or  the  unselfishness  of  nations 
that  has  ever  been  written. 

NOT  SEEKING  TERRITORY 

There  is  this  to  say  of  the  United  States  of  America : 
We  are  the  first  nation  on  the  face  of  the  earth  that 
ever  unsheathed  the  sword  on  behalf  of  suffering  hu- 


THE  PHILIPPINE  ISLANDS  233 

manity.  We  did  that  in  Cuba  in  1898.  Perhaps 
some  one  will  question  the  statement.  I  grant  that 
Congress  in  making  its  declaration  of  war  had  more 
in  mind  an  act  of  revenge  for  the  destruction  of  the 
battleship  Maine;  but  the  great  kindly  soul  that  was  at 
the  head  of  this  republic  at  that  time  put  it  on  a  higher 
plane.  He  disavowed  any  intention  of  the  acquirement 
of  territory,  and  literally  went  to  war  for  humanity's 
sake.  Then,  out  of  the  fortunes  of  that  war,  we  ac 
quired  the  Philippine  Islands. 

Whatever  else  may  be  said — and  it  has  been  wonder 
fully  emphasized  in  this  debate — our  work  in  the 
Philippine  Islands  in  education,  in  sanitation,  in  ele 
vation  and  civilization,  has  been  the  most  magnificent 
contribution  of  a  nation's  unselfishness  ever  recorded 
in  the  history  of  the  world.  If  it  be  true  that  in  seven 
teen  years  we  have  schooled  the  Filipino  people  until 
they  are  quite  fit  for  self-government,  then  we  have 
made  more  advance  for  that  people  in  seventeen  years 
than  they  acquired  in  three  centuries  under  the  Spanish 
occupation.  But  this  splendid  achievement,  Mr.  Presi 
dent,  has  been  lost  sight  of  in  the  debate  in  this  cham 
ber  amid  a  lot  of  fine  phrases  about  "inalienable  right" 
and  "God-given  liberty"  and  "government  without 
the  consent  of  the  governed"  until  I  have  come  to  the 
conclusion  that  the  bronze  statues  of  American  Indians 
that  make  ornate  some  portions  of  this  Capitol, 
would  turn  their  stoical  stares  to  sardonic  smiles  if 
they  could  only  know. 


234  REDEDICATING  AMERICA 


NO  OPPRESSION  OF  PHILIPPINES 

Why,  we  have  never  heretofore  been  seriously  con 
cerned  about  the  "consent  of  the  governed."  We  have 
not  been  speaking  of  it  in  a  century  and  a  third  of 
American  progress.  There  has  been  much  recalling 
of  the  spirit  of  the  American  founding  fathers.  Mr. 
President,  the  man  who  likens  the  Philippine  situation 
to  that  of  the  American  colonies  can  find  no  real 
analogy.  Independence  was  not  the  inspiration  of  the 
War  of  the  Revolution.  Nationality  was  not  the  im 
pelling  force  back  of  the  War  of  the  Revolution.  It 
was  the  means  of  the  preservation  of  independence 
when  once  we  had  achieved  it.  Note  the  difference, 
if  you  please.  There  is  no  ground  for  outcry  about 
oppression  in  the  Philippines.  We  were  grieving  against 
the  mother  country  because  of  unjust  taxation;  we 
were  grieving  because  of  a  denial  of  our  participation 
in  the  commerce  of  the  world.  In  the  Philippine  case, 
if  the  debates  on  this  floor  have  stated  the  facts,  we 
have  not  only  kept  aloof  from  unjust  taxation,  but 
we  have  been  prodigal  in  the  expenditure  of  federal 
funds  in  their  behalf. 

Mr.  President,  I  somehow  believe  that  the  destiny 
of  this  New- World  republic  was  written  by  an  infinite 
hand  in  the  consciousness  of  some  divine  purpose.  I 
can  explain  to  myself  our  phenomenal  progress  in 
no  other  way.  I  can  not  understand  our  very  victory 
for  independence  itself  unless  some  master  hand  was 
directing,  yet  we  have  lost  sight  of  that  important  fact 
in  much  of  the  discussion  on  this  floor. 


THE  PHILIPPINE  ISLANDS  235 


Mr.  President,  the  covenant  of  nationality  led  to  the 
great  Civil  War.  There  is  a  strange  significance  to  me 
in  the  fact  that  our  sovereignty  in  the  Philippines  was 
instituted  by  that  admirable,  that  kind,  that  loving,  that 
sympathetic  American  who  first  revealed  the  recon- 
secration  of  the  South  to  the  concord  of  American 
union.  It  is  significant  because  it  affirms  what  I  be 
lieve  to  be  the  course  of  our  American  destiny.  Those 
of  you  who  knew  him,  those  of  you  who  lived — as  you 
all  did — in  his  time,  know  that  there  was  nothing 
selfish,  there  was  nothing  oppressive,  there  was  noth 
ing  crushing  about  William  McKinley,  and  no  govern 
ment  under  him  and  no  government  of  ours  devoted 
to  his  memory  could  have  such  an  influence. 

HONORABLE    WITHDRAWAL    IMPOSSIBLE 

Mr.  President,  the  debate  on  the  Philippine  bill  has 
served  to  develop  the  infinite  difficulty  of  making  an 
honorable  retirement.  I  think  it  is  impossible  for  us 
honorably  to  withdraw.  I  think  it  is  impossible,  first, 
because  of  our  obligations  to  the  Filipino  nation,  so 
much  interested  in  the  last  quarter  of  a  century  in  up 
lift  work,  so  deeply  interested  in  the  uplifting  of  a 
downtrodden  people  that  our  unfortunate  Mexican 
policy  of  "watchful  waiting"  was  founded  on  such  a 
design.  I  should  dislike  to  think  that  we  are  anxious 
to  cast  the  Philippines  adrift  because  of  the  mere  fact, 
if  you  please,  that  they  would  endanger  us  or  add  to 
our  responsibilities  in  time  of  war. 


236  REDEDICATING  AMERICA 


COMMERCIAL  ADVANTAGES  SHOWNT 

In  the  next  place,  without  going  further  into  the 
discussion,  I  think  we  can  not  retire  because  of  the 
obligations  to  ourselves  and  to  the  other  nations  of  the 
earth.  I  do  not  wish  to  discuss,  Mr.  President,  this 
question  from  what  seems  to  be  a  selfish  view-point, 
but  one  can  not  be  in  this  chamber  without  catching 
the  aspirations  of  the  American  people.  I  know  what 
is  in  our  hearts.  It  is  in  every  official  message ;  some 
how  or  other  it  is  the  desire  of  every  patriotic  Ameri 
can.  Here  is  a  nation  with  limitless  resources;  here 
is  a  nation  excelling  in  genius;  here  is  a  nation  un 
matched  in  industry ;  and  everything  that  is  proposed 
in  this  body  is  designed  to  aid  and  encourage  the 
widening  of  American  influence  and  make  us  a  dom 
inant  commercial  and  industrial  nation.  Well,  if 
that  be  true,  I  want  to  ask  what  field,  other  than 
South  America,  offers  greater  attractions  than  the 
Orient?  And  if  we  are  to  go  into  the  Orient  for  an 
expansion  of  commerce  and  trade,  I  fancy  that  the 
possession  of  these  rich  islands,  the  Philippine  Archi 
pelago,  will  be  very  much  to  our  advantage. 

Mr.  President,  there  is  another  phase  of  this  sub 
ject  which  I  desire  to  touch  upon,  and  then  I  shall  not 
detain  the  Senate  longer.  There  is  not  only  the  view 
point  of  our  covenant  to  the  world  and  to  civilization, 
but  at  this  particular  moment  this  reversal  of  the 
American  policy,  to  my  mind,  would  be  the  most  un 
fortunate  thing  that  could  happen  to  the  United  States 
of  America.  I  do  not  want  it  said  that  this  great 
nation,  aspiring  to  a  place  in  the  councils  of  the  world, 


THE  PHILIPPINE  ISLANDS  237 

that  this  great  nation,  which  to-day  is  the  only  one 
whose  voice  is  heard  above  the  din  of  conflict  in  a 
continental  war,  is  so  miserably  afraid  that  it  wants 
to  cast  aside  some  of  its  possessions  to  avoid  some  of 
the  dangers  of  war.  I  had  rather  stand  erect  as  an 
American  and  be  unafraid,  and  particularly  at  this 
time  when,  in  some  way  or  other,  most  unfortu 
nately,  Americanism  is  very  much  derided  in  the  Old 
World.  Contempt  is  shown  for  it  in  Mexico ;  disregard 
is  shown  for  American  rights  on  the  seas.  Why  not, 
Mr.  President,  reassert  ourselves,  not  only  confident 
in  the  possession  of  the  territory  which  is  righteously 
ours,  but  make  it  ornate  with  an  assertion  of  American 
ism  that  is  befitting  so  great  a  nation. 

Mr.  President,  I  have  been  very  much  interested 
in  another  phase  of  this  subject.  Much  has  been  said 
in  the  current  debates  relating  to  the  dangers  of  co 
lonial  possessions.  I  venture  to  make  reply  that  there 
is  not  an  instance  in  history  where  a  colonial  posses 
sion  proved  unfortunate  to  the  mother  power,  if  I  may 
call  it  so,  where  the  national  heart  was  right. 

FILIPINOS  NEED  AMERICA 

One  more  phase.  I  do  not  believe  that  it  disparages 
the  citizenship  of  the  Philippine  Islands  to  question 
their  capacity  for  self-government.  I  am  not  always 
sure  that  we  have  that  capacity  ourselves  in  these 
boasted  United  States.  But  whether  we  have  or  not, 
the  Filipino  people  have  been  accustomed  to  our  spirit 
of  civilization  for  only  seventeen  years.  I  grant  that 
the  islands  have  their  college  graduates;  I  grant  that 
they  have  their  brave  men,  their  brilliant  leaders ;  but 


238  REDEDICATING  AMERICA 

Manila  is  not  the  Philippine  Islands.  I  grant,  Mr. 
President,  that  there  are  600,000  children  in  the  schools 
of  the  islands,  rollicking  in  a  laughter  that  is  the  echo 
of  our  own  in  these  United  States,  and  walking  in  the 
light  of  opening  opportunity.  But  600,000  in  the 
schools  out  of  a  population  of  8,000,000  is  a  mighty 
poor  guarantee  of  a  dependable  autonomy.  Before 
we  think  of  such  a  thing,  let  us  not  only  have  600,000 
children  in  the  schools  of  the  Philippine  Islands,  but, 
under  American  education  and  occupation,  and  spon 
sorship,  let  us  have  2,000,000  Philippine  children  in 
the  schools.  Then  the  pathway  will  open  for  a  higher 
civilization,  and  with  it  a  devotion  to  the  nation  that 
led  the  way. 

Mr.  President,  in  the  determination  of  this  question 
of  Philippine  independence,  we  do  one  of  two  things : 
We  determine  to  call  in  the  outposts  and  narrow,  if 
we  can,  the  influences  of  American  civilization  to  our 
own  shores ;  or  we  determine  to  go  courageously  and 
unfalteringly  on,  spreading  our  boasted  American 
civilization  throughout  the  world. 

I  have  sometimes  wondered  what  the  impelling  in 
fluence  has  been.  I  know  very  well  that  a  nation  lead 
ing  in  civilization  and  in  that  uplifting  work  which 
contributes  to  the  weal  of  humanity  can  no  more 
limit  its  influence  to  its  territorial  or  coast-bound 
sphere  than  can  the  man  who  stands  high  in  his  com 
munity,  and  has  the  character  and  the  attributes  that 
make  him  an  influence  in  the  activities  of  the  world. 


THE  PHILIPPINE  ISLANDS  239 


AMERICAN  PROGRESS  MUST  CONTINUE 

Mr.  President,  we  have  boasted  heretofore  that  we 
have  seemingly  founded  the  ideal  republic.  I  do  not 
know  whether  we  have  or  not.  A  century  and  a  third 
is  only  a  very  little  while  in  the  history  of  the  world ! 
But  we  have  seemingly  founded  the  first  dependable 
popular  self-government  on  the  face  of  the  earth,  be 
cause  the  fathers  had  the  inspiration  to  write  civil 
liberty  into  our  organic  law. 

It  seems  to  me,  if  it  has  been  our  privilege  and  our 
boast  that  we  have  established  and  developed  the  best 
popular  government  on  the  face  of  the  earth,  that  we 
ought  to  go  on  with  the  same  thought  that  impelled 
Him  who  brought  a  plan  of  salvation  to  the  earth. 
Rather  than  confine  it  to  the  limitations  of  the  Holy 
Land  alone,  He  gathered  His  disciples  about  Him  and 
said,  "Go  ye  and  preach  the  gospel  to  all  the  nations 
of  the  earth." 

Let  us  stop  and  think  before  we  alter  the  policy  of 
these  United  States.  Let  us  not  think  about  the  selfish 
side  of  commerce  and  industry  alone.  Let  us  ask  our 
selves  if  the  time  has  not  come  when  it  is  befitting 
to  return  a  vigorous,  persistent,  conscience-founded 
determined  Americanism;  and  clad  in  our  convictions 
of  conscientiousness  and  righteousness,  let  us  go  on, 
Mr.  President  and  Senators,  in  our  efforts  to  fulfill 
the  destinies  of  what  I  believe  to  be  the  best  republic 
on  earth. 


CHAPTER  XIX 
SOME  SPECIFICATIONS 

Delivered  before  the  Builders  Exchange, 
Cleveland,  Ohio 

IT  is  a  very  great  pleasure  to  meet  with  the  mem 
bers  of  the  Builders'  Exchange.  From  experience  of 
my  own  I  know  that  trade  and  professional  association 
brings  together  the  best  individual  factors  in  the  as 
sociated  lines,  and  the  association  is  helpful  to  every 
participant.  The  one  who  acknowledges  no  benefits 
in  the  exchange  of  ideas,  and  sees  no  strength  in 
righteous  cooperation,  is  too  exalted  to  be  of  any 
earthly  use,  or  too  feeble  to  add  an  atom  of  strength 
to  any  undertaking. 

It  is  especially  pleasing  to  greet  this  body  of  live 
factors  in  the  constructive  world.  I  doff  my  hat  to  the 
men  engaged  in  constructive  pursuits.  The  world 
always  has  its  tribute  ready  for  the  builders.  There 
have  been  a  hundred  classifications  of  men.  Some 
one  with  keen  appreciation  said,  men  are  three — con 
structive,  obstructive,  destructive.  There  may  be  an 
obstructionist  here  to-day,  but  it  is  fair  to  assume  this 
is  a  constructive  company.  You  belong  there  literally, 
turning  human  energies  to  building,  to  the  fashioning 
of  material  for  the  enhancement  of  the  human  habita 
tions  of  the  earth.  It  is  the  most  important  factor  in 

240 


SOME  SPECIFICATIONS  241 

the  human  uplift,  in  which  we  Americans  are  distanc 
ing  the  world. 

This  is  a  wonderful  land  of  ours.  It  is  so  vast,  so 
rich,  so  inestimable  in  possibilities  that  there  is  no  full 
understanding.  We  were  blessed  so  generously  by 
God's  bounty  that  we  were  and  are  now  prodigal  in 
expenditure  thereof,  but  there  has  come  an  awakening 
to  needed  conservation — a  conservation  of  men  and 
material.  Without  discussing,  I  venture  to  say  that 
conservation  is  a  problem  for  the  builders.  We  should 
halt  the  procession,  if  we  discouraged  development, 
therefore  conservation  becomes  a  practical  question 
to  solve  in  the  capable  hands  of  builders. 

AMERICA  PRODIGAL  GIFT  OF  CREATOR 

A  recent  trip  to  the  Pacific  coast  has  magnified  my 
belief  that  ours  is  a  land  physically  incomparable,  the 
prodigal  gift  of  the  Creator.  With  our  mountains 
and  plains,  rivers  and  lakes,  fertile  valleys  and  golden 
stretches,  north,  south,  east  or  west,  it  is  a  seemingly 
measureless  expanse,  unmatchable.  There  are  en 
chanting  wonders  in  the  mountainous  West,  where  one 
breathes  a  new  reverence  for  God  and  feels  a  new 
love  of  country.  One  seems  to  have  gone  beyond 
man's  helplessness,  where  his  handiwork  is  triviality. 
It  is  like  a  great  throne  of  purple  and  gold,  from 
which  nature  thundered  its  contempt  for  man's  feeble 
ness  and  reared  its  monuments  in  mountains  as  tributes 
to  the  Creator,  wrote  its  acknowledgments  in  the 
canyons,  attuned  its  praises  to  the  music  of  rippling 
waters,  then  crowned  it  all  with  beauty  indescribable. 
No  tongue  can  portray  the  grandeur,  and  yet,  after 


242  REDEDICATING  AMERICA 

all,  in  analytical  reflection,  the  miracle  is  little  more — 
nay,  it  is  even  less — than  man  has  wrought  in  his 
genius  and  his  strength,  where  he  has  builded  of  the 
materials  left  by  creation  into  works  and  wonders 
and  habitations  and  habiliments.  San  Francisco, 
builded  anew  from  the  ruins  of  earthquake  and  fire, 
is  a  greater  marvel  than  the  Grand  Canyon  of  the 
Colorado,  and  the  superb  Panama-Pacific  Exposition, 
which  is  a  revelry  of  conceit  and  construction,  is  more 
fascinating  than  famed  Yellowstone.  One  is  nature's 
work  in  the  whimsicalities  of  varied  moods,  the  other 
is  man's  construction,  directed  by  enlightenment,  work 
ing  to  a  fixed  and  exalted  purpose. 

What  wonders  have  not  the  builders  wrought  ?  The 
vehicles  of  transportation,  from  a  Ford  to  a  Vater- 
land,  are  the  moving  tributes  to  constructive  triumph. 
In  the  cities  we  pile  the  sky-scrapers  high,  teeming 
with  living,  building  souls,  and  transport  the  millions 
safely  beside  or  beneath  them.  We  more  than  span 
the  great  rivers,  we  speed  the  quickened  American 
procession  by  dashing  through  tunnels  underneath 
their  waters.  Builders  have  wrought  the  incompre 
hensible  marvels  of  electricity,  until  we  make  the 
mummy-makers  of  ancient  civilization,  though  they 
builded  the  Pyramids,  seem  like  imbeciles  at  gruesome 
play.  This  marvelous  building  age,  confident  of  itself, 
bequeaths  its  living  voice  and  its  strains  of  music 
divine  to  the  distant  posterity  we  know  not  of,  and  we 
live  amid  the  triumphs  of  American  genius,  construct 
ing,  which  surpasses  all  previous  human  under 
standing. 


SOME  SPECIFICATIONS  243 

MAKERS  OF  AMERICA 

And  the  builders  have  done  more  than  achieve  mere 
material  triumph.  Just  as  the  trade  guilds  contributed 
to  Roman  glory ;  just  as  the  trade  guilds  of  the  Nether 
lands  broke  the  Norman  yoke  and  builded  for  Flem 
ish  liberty,  so  are  the  builders,  broadening  the  term 
to  its  wider  sense,  the  makers  of  the  American  nation. 
No  reference  to  the  builders  is  fittingly  comprehensive 
which  does  not  include  the  toilers,  from  the  humblest 
burden-bearer  to  the  most  highly  skilled  mechanic. 
There  can  be  no  limitation  of  deference  to  the  mind 
which  conceives;  there  must  be  unstinted  tribute  to 
the  master  who  executes,  but  there  must  be  no  de 
nial  of  rightful  dues  to  the  man  who  drives  a  nail  or 
spreads  the  mortar  or  rivets  a  bolt.  There  is  glory 
enough  for  all. 

This  statement  may  be  applied  with  added  emphasis 
to  the  builders  of  the  village,  the  city,  the  state  and 
nation.  A  nation's  laws  are  its  specifications,  and  they 
ought  to  represent  the  best  thought  and  highest  intent 
of  both  architects  and  builders,  but  the  test  of  a  nation 
is  its  citizenship.  We  can  not  measure  by  a  towering 
figure  here  and  there,  but  judgment  will  rest  on  the 
great  rank  and  file. 

The  fathers  laid  a  foundation  in  the  work  for 
which  they  were  seemingly  inspired,  yet  theirs  was  a 
limited  vision.  There  was  no  Cleveland  in  their  vision, 
because  they  could  not  see  beyond  the  ridges  of  the 
Alleghanies.  But  they  builded  in  good  courage,  in 
high  purpose  and  commanding  honesty  and  Time  and 
Patriotism  have  joined  in  development  and  expansion, 


244  REDEDICATING  AMERICA 

until  to-day  their  temple  is  the  marvel  of  nations. 
Contemplating  this  splendid  temple  of  American  na 
tional  life,  in  the  exaltation  and  exultation  of  partici 
pation  in  its  making,  what  glory  could  be  greater  than 
the  consciousness  of  a  builder's  part  ? 

HONEST  BUILDING  ESSENTIAL 

One  hardly  needs  to  advise  a  company  of  experi 
enced  and  practical  builders  how  to  build  for  highest 
usefulness  and  endurance.  You  know  that  the  great 
essentials  are  to  plan  intelligently  and  build  honestly. 
The  greatest  menace  in  the  busy  activities  of  modern 
life  lies  in  dodging  the  specifications.  No  one  thing 
will  contribute  more  to  twentieth-century  uplift  and 
progress  than  the  universal  and  unswerving  fidelity 
to  contract.  In  other  words,  builders  of  the  edifice, 
weavers  of  the  social  woof,  participants  in  the  political 
performance  must  be  abidingly  honest.  Keeping  the 
faith,  holding  to  the  specifications,  fulfilling  the  con 
tract — these  are  essentials  to  universal  confidence  and 
unquestioned  satisfaction. 

Sometimes  I  think  we  Americans,  as  nation  builders, 
get  too  careless  of  specifications.  The  fathers  began 
the  world-astounding  temple  of  a  representative  gov 
ernment,  with  the  guaranty  of  equal  rights  for  all. 
A  heroic  genius  of  a  later  generation  uttered  their 
specifications  in  simple  words  which  none  can  mis 
construe — namely,  "a  government  of  the  people,  by 
the  people,  for  the  people."  Such  is  still  the  thought 
ful  intent,  but  there  ofttimes  is  a  violation  of  speci 
fications  in  the  assumption  of  improving  them.  In 
other  words,  we  weaken  the  structure  whenever  there 


SOME  SPECIFICATIONS  245 

is  taken  away  the  constitutional  safeguards  which 
have  guaranteed  stability,  and  we  ignore  the  plans 
when  we  seek  to  substitute  pure  Democracy  for  repre 
sentative  reason  and  deliberate  righteousness. 

I  do  not  argue  that  we  are  building  to  universal  ap 
proval,  even  among  ourselves,  much  less  among  ob 
servers  abroad.  That  would  be  the  surpassing  miracle. 
Never  a  creation  that  some  one  did  not  think  he  could 
improve;  never  a  structure  that  some  one  would  not 
change.  One  must  not  deny  the  growth  of  wisdom 
through  experience,  but  only  the  builder  comes  to  the 
full  appreciation  of  the  thing  constructed.  My  thought 
Is  that  we  ought  to  go  on  building,  along  the  lines  on 
which  we  so  notably,  thus  far,  have  triumphed. 

CONSECRATION  TO  CIVIC  DUTY 

I  can  not  and  will  not  subscribe  to  the  doctrine  that 
all  that  is,  is  wrong,  and  all  that  is  to  be  will  be  divine. 
We  are  a  wonderful  people,  our  weakness  lies  in  not 
always  holding  high  the  individual  standard  of  citizen 
ship.  If  we  build  to  endure,  the  citizenship  must  be 
right.  It  requires  upkeep  as  well  as  uplift.  It  re 
quires  consecration  to  civic  duty  on  the  part  of  every 
man,  not  politicians  alone ;  not  place-hunters  alone ;  not 
agitators  alone,  agitating  for  compensation ;  it  requires 
the  joint  consecration  of  contractor  and  wage-earner, 
of  directing  brain  and  brawn  and  muscle. 

I  prefer  optimists  to  pessimists,  and  like  boosters 
better  than  knockers.  And  I  like  to  differentiate  be 
tween  fair  warning  and  righteous  demand,  on  the  one 
hand,  and  loud  pessimism  and  hypercritical  outcry  on 
the  other.  Of  course,  we  have  evils  to  correct,  always 


246  REDEDICATING  AMERICA 

will  have.  There  will  be  weak  places  to  cure,  and  we 
must  do  it,  and  such  bodies  as  this  ought  to  be  the 
first  to  bend  to  the  task.  But  let  us  keep  our  vision 
straight.  A  flimsy  scaffold  betokens  no  tottering  wall. 

Stamp  out  the  impression  that  we  are  enslaved  by 
commercialism  or  besmirched  by  corruption.  Let  us 
get  back  to  the  understanding  that  business  is  honest 
and  honorable,  and  success  is  worth  applauding.  No 
nation  ever  has  written  a  triumphant  page  in  history 
which  has  not  been  eminent  in  commerce  and  industry. 
Our  own  astonishing  progress  as  a  nation  is  the  reflex 
of  industrial  and  commercial  development,  just  as  this 
great  sixth  city  is  a  reflex  of  factories,  offices  and 
mercantile  channels.  Let  us  understand  this  fact  and 
be  for  a  square  deal  for  the  man  who  does  big  things, 
never  forgetting  that  the  humblest  man  must  have  his 
square  deal,  too,  and  the  big  man  is  biggest  who  best 
bestows  the  fair  treatment  which  he  rightfully  expects 
for  himself. 

Insistent  fairness  and  persistent  honesty  will  make 
for  harmony  of  effort  toward  continued  and  greater 
achievement.  We  must  dissipate  a  lot  of  folderol. 
Perhaps  there  is  big  business  and  there  are  big  con 
tractors  who  are  not  always  working  to  specifications. 
Then  we  ought  all  join  to  insist  on  fulfillment. 

We  are  all  builders,  with  the  obligations  of  con 
tractors  to  work  to  the  specifications.  Men  like  you 
are  more  responsible  for  the  outcome  than  others  of 
mere  individual  responsibility.  It  is  your  function  to 
construct  and  preserve,  and  I  am  confident  fidelity  to 
specifications  will  guarantee  a  progress  in  which  all 
will  share  and  in  which  all  may  greatly  rejoice. 


CHAPTER  XX 
THE  KNOX  RESOLUTION 

Address  in  the  United  States  Senate,  May  n,  1920,  on 
Resolution  to  Declare  State  of  War  Ended 

I  KNOW  nothing  in  this  republic  so  valuable  in  the 
promise  of  influence  for  a  popular  representative  gov 
ernment  as  the  proof  of  the  capacity  of  Congress  to 
function.  Mr.  President,  we  surrendered  that  capacity 
very  largely  during  the  war.  I  voted  for  that  surren 
der.  We  were  willing  to  give  unlimited  authority  to 
the  chief  executive  in  time  of  anxiety  and  stress ;  but 
while  we  gave  during  the  war,  we  are  going  to  be  just 
as  insistent  in  refusing  to  give  in  time  of  peace.  I 
think  America's  greatest  contribution  to  the  world  lies 
in  the  fact  that  it  has  furnished  the  best  example  of 
representative  popular  government  the  world  has  ever 
seen,  and  I  rather  rejoice  in  the  manifestation  we 
made  of  the  willingness  of  Congress  to  submerge  itself 
in  the  hour  of  extreme  anxiety.  I  am  only  sorry  that 
the  chief  executive  of  this  republic,  because  of  Con 
gress*  willingness  to  surrender  at  that  time,  has  gone 
on  to  assume  continued  powers  for  peace. 

It  is  a  very  easy  thing,  Senators,  to  become  intoxi 
cated  with  power;  aye,  and  it  is  a  very  easy  thing  to 
be  carried  away  with  a  consuming  ambition.  I  can 

247 


248  REDEDICATING  AMERICA 

sympathize,  to  a  reasonable  degree,  with  the  ambition 
of  the  president  to  write  for  himself  the  most  eminent 
page  in  the  history  of  the  world.  It  would  have  been 
a  very  remarkable  thing  to  have  committed  thirty  na 
tions  of  present-day  civilization  to  a  supergovernment 
of  the  world,  and  I  can  see  how  the  historian  was  led 
far  afield  by  a  very  natural  ambition. 

PRESIDENT  WAS  WARNED 

But  the  president  was  warned  when  he  went  abroad. 
I  found  no  fault  with  his  going.  He  was  not  only 
warned  before  he  went  by  a  referendum  to  the  Amer 
ican  people  on  his  own  appeal  in  the  elections  of  1918, 
but  he  was  specifically  and  formally  warned  by  mem 
bers  of  this  body  after  he  went  abroad,  when  notice 
was  given  that  the  Senate  of  the  United  States  of 
America  had  no  thought  to  surrender  American  in 
dependence  of  action.  But  in  spite  of  these  things — 
warnings  from  the  people  on  the  one  hand  and  warn 
ings  from  the  Senate  on  the  other — the  president  in 
sisted  :  "My  will  or  none." 

Senators  on  the  other  side  of  the  chamber  know 
just  as  well  as  I  do  that  the  league  of  nations  would 
have  been  disposed  of  months  ago,  and  this  republic 
would  have  been  enjoying  formal  peace,  if  it  had  not 
been  for  the  insistent  obstinacy  of  the  chief  executive 
of  this  republic.  And  so,  Mr.  President,  I  want  to 
call  attention  to  the  fact,  more  for  the  Record  than 
anything  else,  that  in  the  passage  of  this  joint  resolu 
tion  we  are  demonstrating  to  the  people  of  the  United 
States  of  America  and  giving  notice  to  the  world  that 
the  chief  executive  alone  does  not  run  the  republic  of 


THE  KNOX  RESOLUTION  249 

the  United  States  of  America ;  that  this  is  still  a  rep 
resentative  popular  government  under  the  Constitution ; 
that  the  Senate  has  equal  and  coordinate  power  with 
the  president  in  the  making  of  treaties,  and  that  neither 
to-day  nor  to-morrow  shall  there  ever  be  a  chief  exec 
utive  of  this  republic  who,  in  the  lure  of  ambition  or 
the  intoxication  of  power,  can  barter  away  anything 
essential  to  the  welfare  of  this  republic. 

CONGRESS  STILL   FUNCTIONS 

This  joint  resolution  will  establish  the  fact,  and 
that  a  Congress  willing  to  submerge  in  war  is  once 
more  functioning  in  peace.  It  will  be  the  most  whole 
some  message  that  can  be  sent  to  the  world,  and  it  will 
be  the  most  reassuring  message  that  can  be  given  to  the 
people  of  the  United  States  of  America. 

I  agree  in  one  respect  with  the  senator  from  New 
Mexico — I  was  one  who  believed  in  some  new  inter 
national  relationship.  I  am  sorry  that  we  could  not 
go  into  it  on  our  own  terms,  as  we  ought,  when  the 
league  covenant  first  came  back.  But  we  frittered 
away  our  day  of  opportunity  to  dictate  the  terms  on 
which  we  might  enter.  It  ought  to  have  been  done  in 
the  beginning. 

Now  we  witness  the  world  at  peace,  and  here  is  the 
United  States  of  America  at  formal  war  with  Ger 
many,  and  there  is  no  necessity  for  it.  There  is  no 
sense  in  it.  It  ought  not  to  be  for  a  single  moment. 
We  are  literally  at  peace.  Why  not  say  so ;  and  if  the 
president  of  the  United  States  in  his  obstinacy  refuses 
to  say  so,  then  let  the  Congress  assert  itself  and  say 
that  war  no  longer  abides. 


CHAPTER  XXI 
THE  PEACE  TREATY; 

Address  in  the  United  States  Senate,  November  18, 

1919,  When  the  Final  Vote  on  the  Peace 

Treaty  Was  Taken 

MR.  PRESIDENT,  I  have  been  content  to  allow  the 
final  disposition  of  the  pending  measure  without  any 
further  remarks,  but  I  could  not  well  be  content  to  per 
mit  the  statement  of  the  senator  from  Alabama  (Mr. 
Underwood)  to  go  unchallenged.  I  quite  agree  with 
him  that  no  one  can  fool  the  country;  and,  in  order 
that  we  may  make  the  situation  clear  to  the  country  to 
night,  when  all  of  the  United  States  is  watching  the 
action  of  this  body  no  less  intently  than  are  those  who 
honor  us  with  their  presence  and  when  all  the  world 
is  watching  to  see  what  this  great  republic  will  do,  I 
am  in  favor  of  doing  what  may  be  expressed  in  a  well- 
understood  sporting  term  as  "laying  all  the  cards  on 
the  table,  face  up." 

We  have  been  witnesses,  Senators,  to  many  months 
of  discussion  and  debate,  and  delay  in  dealing  with 
this  treaty ;  and  it  ill  becomes  any  senator  of  the  minor 
ity  to  say  that  there  has  been  no  opportunity  for  com 
promise  or  accommodation  or  adjustment.  I  was  per 
sonally  a  witness  to  the  long-drawn-out  discussion  of 
reservations  in  the  Foreign  Relations  Committee  when 

250 


THE  PEACE  TREATY  251 

we  sought  in  a  more  intimate  study  of  the  treaty  to 
accommodate  our  differences  there,  because  there  was 
not  a  member  of  the  Senate  and  there  was  but  one  man 
in  the  United  States  of  America  who  did  not  know  that 
this  treaty  could  never  be  ratified  without  reservations. 
With  that  perfectly  plain  understanding  of  the  situa 
tion,  the  committee  set  itself  to  work  out  reservations 
which  would  safeguard  the  interests  of  the  United 
States  of  America  and  make  ratification  possible. 

RESERVATIONS  ARE  ESSENTIAL 

I  speak,  Mr.  President,  for  one  who  has  maintained 
that  position.  I  have  not  liked  this  treaty;  I  think, 
as  originally  negotiated,  it  is  the  colossal  blunder  of 
all  time ;  but,  recognizing  the  aspirations  of  our  own 
people  and  the  people  of  the  world  to  do  something 
toward  international  cooperation  for  the  promotion 
and  preservation  of  peace  and  a  more  intimate  and  bet 
ter  understanding  between  nations,  I  have  wished  to 
make  it  possible  to  accept  this  covenant.  I  could,  how 
ever,  no  more  vote  to  ratify  this  treaty  without  reser 
vations  which  make  sure  America's  independence  of 
action,  which  make  sure  the  preservation  of  American 
traditions,  which  make  sure  and  certain  our  freedom 
in  choosing  our  course  of  action,  than  I  could  partici 
pate  in  a  knowing  betrayal  of  this  republic. 

Mr.  President,  in  letting  the  public  understand  let 
us  review  the  situation.  In  the  Senate  there  are  four 
distinct  schools  of  thought  in  dealing  with  this  treaty : 
One  is  the  unconditional-ratification  school,  those  who, 
either  through  their  own  conscientious  convictions  or 
the  lash  of  the  executive — choose  as  you  will — want 


252  REDEDICATING  AMERICA' 

this  treaty  ratified  without  a  single  modification  or 
ervation.    That  is  group  No.  1. 

In  direct  opposition  is  the  so-called  irreconcilable 
group,  those  who  are  unalterably  opposed  to  any  rati 
fication.  That  is  group  No.  2.  The  third  is  the  group 
to  which  I  choose  to  belong,  if  I  may,  who  are  agreed 
to  bring  about  the  ratification  of  this  treaty  if  they  are 
convinced  that  reservations  have  been  adopted  which 
are  sufficient  to  safeguard  the  interests  of  the  United 
States  of  America.  There  still  remains  another  group 
: — or,  rather  a  group  within  a  group — popularly  known 
as  the  "mild  reservationists" — those  who  are  anxious 
to  ratify,  who  are  anxious  to  safeguard,  the  interests 
of  this  republic,  but  at  the  same  time  desire  to  make 
the  reservations  as  little  offensive  as  possible  to  those 
who  assumed  to  negotiate  the  treaty  in  contempt  of  the 
Senate. 

MAJORITY  ABLE  TO  REACH  AGREEMENT 

We  have  had  the  four  groups  to  deal  with,  and  in 
the  progress  of  the  debate  and  after  much  discussion 
we  have  finally  come  to  an  understanding  on  this  side 
alone — because  on  the  other  side  there  were  those  who 
took  the  position  that  there  could  be  no  reservations 
at  all — and  have  accommodated  our  differences  to  the 
extent  that  the  majority  has  agreed  upon  a  program 
of  reservations. 

TREATY  NEGOTIATED  UPON  MISUNDERSTANDING 

That  leads  me,  if  you  please,  to  indulge  in  a  little  re 
flection.  The  whole  trouble  with  the  treaty,  Senators, 
is  that  it  was  negotiated  upon  a  misunderstanding  upon 


THE  PEACE  TREATY  253 

the  part  of  the  executive.  No  one  doubts  for  a  mo 
ment  that  the  president,  in  that  disregard  for  the  Sen 
ate  which  grew  out  of  war  conditions,  in  that  little 
consideration  for  this  body  which  followed  a  state  of 
submergence,  undertook  to  negotiate  a  treaty  which 
was  his  towering  ambition,  notwithstanding  he  knew 
the  opposition  of  a  majority  and  in  defiance  of  the  ex 
pressed  wish  or  the  expressed  opinion  of  a  sufficient 
number  to  defeat  ratification,  under  the  executive  im 
pression  that  no  modification  or  alteration  could  be  ef 
fected  except  by  a  two-thirds  majority  vote  of  the 
Senate. 

He  himself  not  only  so  stated,  but  those  who  have 
been  students  of  the  whole  negotiation  and  the  after 
math  have  clearly  seen  that  the  executive  proceeded 
on  that  theory.  But  it  develops,  Mr.  President,  that 
there  is  still  a  United  States  Senate  and  a  majority, 
of  course,  in  the  Senate  which  is  determined  to  reassert 
itself. 

It  was  all  right,  Senators,  to  submerge  ourselves  as 
members  of  the  government  commissioned  by  the  peo 
ple,  as  we  did  submerge  ourselves  during  the  period  of 
the  war ;  I  was  a  participant  in  the  submerge,  but  when 
the  war  ended  and  the  greatest  document  in  importance 
ever  negotiated  in  the  world  came  to  this  body  for  con 
sideration,  then  it  was  becoming,  indeed,  for  the 
United  States  Senate  again  to  assume  its  constitutional 
authority. 

It  is  in  that  assumption  of  authority  that  senators 
on  this  side  in  the  majority  not  all  in  accord,  let  it  be 
said,  but  senators  on  this  side  in  the  majority — deter- 


254  REDEDICATING  AMERICA 

mined,  with  practical  unanimity,  that  there  could  be  no 
ratification  without  ample  American  reservations. 

MINORITY  DID  NOT  SEEK  AGREEMENT 

The  members  of  the  minority  have  known  of  the 
processes  employed  in  framing  the  reservations. 
There  have  been  weeks  and  months  of  opportunity  to 
accommodate  any  differences  and  to  meet  us  on  com 
mon  ground  and  negotiate  acceptable  reservations ;  but, 
in  spite  of  that  existent  opportunity  and  in  spite  of  the 
waste  of  time,  when  you  on  the  other  side  have  been 
clamoring  about  delay,  never  a  single  effort  has  been 
made  until  the  majority  has  demonstrated  its  deter 
mination  to  submit  reservations  which  must  be  aor 
cepted. 

Now,  you  who  talk  about  peace — through  our  atti 
tude  in  dealing  with  the  treaty,  which  dealing  has 
little  to  do  with  the  peace  already  established — you  who 
are  anxious  to  get  this  document  out  of  the  way,  why 
not  recognize  a  situation  that  can  not  possibly  be 
changed  ? 

AMERICA  MUST  BE  PRESERVED 

We  are  content  to  give  you  your  league  of  nations, 
doubtful  as  we  are  about  the  wisdom  of  the  great  ex 
periment.  We  recognize  that  we  are  not  giving  it  to 
you  in  the  fulness  of  the  ambitions  of  the  chief  execu 
tive  who  negotiated  it;  we  realize  and  regret  that  it 
must  be  reported  to  the  nations  of  the  world  with  some 
thing  a  very  kin  to  humiliation.  That  is  not  the  fault 
of  the  Senate ;  that  is  the  fault  of  him  who  negotiated 
it  without  recognizing  that  there  is  a  Senate.  It  is  a 


THE  PEACE  TREATY  255 

very  great  misfortune,  and  I  am  sorry  about  it;  but 
I  tell  you,  Senators,  the  independence  of  action  and  the 
preserved  inheritance  of  this  republic  are  infinitely 
more  important  than  the  wounded  feelings  of  him  who 
negotiated  it  without  admitting  the  existence  of  the 
Senate.  So  we  in  the  majority  are  agreed  to  preserve 
American  freedom  of  action  and  enter  upon  a  league 
of  nations,  a  league  with  such  reservations  that  leave 
us  our  choice  of  action,  the  exercise  of  American  con 
science,  the  determination  to  do  that  which  we  think 
is  our  part  in  the  promotion  and  preservation  of  civi 
lization  and  peace  without  the  surrender  of  things  es 
sentially  American. 

If  this  ratification  is  made  with  the  reservations 
which  have  been  adopted,  there  remains  the  skeleton 
of  a  league  on  which  the  United  States  can,  if  it  deems 
it  prudent,  proceed  in  deliberation  and  calm  reflection 
toward  the  building  of  an  international  relationship 
which  shall  be  effective  in  the  future.  The  trouble 
with  the  whole  league  covenant  is  that  it  was  hastily 
negotiated  to  be  made  the  foundation  of  a  treaty  of 
peace,  when  there  ought  to  have  been  a  treaty  of  peace 
negotiated  with  a  league  of  nations  created  in  the  de 
liberate  aftermath. 

WELCOMES  DECISION  OF  PEOPLE 

Under  these  circumstances,  recognizing  conditions, 
without  discussing  the  partisan  phase  of  it  or  any  po 
litical  advantage,  we  have  this  arrangement,  and  we 
must  meet  it  as  it  exists,  and  those  on  the  majority 
side,  those  against  it  irreconcilably,  and  those  for  the 
league  want  these  reservations  to  go  to  the  nations  of 


256  REDEDICATING  AMERICA 

the  Old  World  to  assert  and  make  certain  America's 
freedom  of  action  in  the  future,  and  leave  a  semblance 
of  a  league  on  which  to  build. 

If  those  on  the  other  side  of  the  chamber  are  agreed 
to  accept  such  a  thing  as  that,  well  and  good.  If  you 
are  determined  that  a  minority  of  the  Senate  shall  fol 
low  the  same  blind  insistence  that  characterized  the 
action  of  the  executive  in  negotiating,  I  warn  you  now, 
you  are  certain  to  go  to  defeat;  and  if  I  can  speak 
for  one,  in  accepting  the  challenge  of  the  senator  from 
Alabama,  I  welcome  the  moment  we  can  go  to  the  peo 
ple  of  the  United  States  on  the  issue  as  to  who  is  re 
sponsible  therefor. 

I  know,  Mr.  President,  that  in  this  covenant,  we 
have  originally  bartered  American  independence  in 
order  to  create  a  league.  We  have  traded  away  Amer 
ica's  freedom  of  action  in  order  to  establish  a  super- 
government  of  the  world,  and  it  was  never  intended  to 
be  any  less.  I  speak  for  one  who  is  old-fashioned 
enough  to  believe  that  the  government  of  the  United 
States  is  good  enough  for  me.  In  speaking  my  rev 
erence  for  the  government  of  the  United  States  of 
America,  I  want  the  preservation  of  those  coordinate 
branches  of  government  which  were  conceived  and 
instituted  by  the  fathers ;  and  if  there  is  nothing  else 
significant  in  the  action  of  this  day,  you  can  tell  to  the 
people  of  the  United  States  of  America  and  to  the 
world  that  the  Senate  of  the  United  States  has  once 
more  reasserted  its  authority,  and  representative  gov 
ernment  abides. 

THE  END 


14  DAY  USE 

RETURN  TO  DESK  FROM  WHICH  BORROWED 

LOAN  DEPT. 

RENEWALS  ONLY— TEL.  NO.  642-3405 

This  book  is  due  on  the  last  date  stamped  below,  or 

on  the  date  to  which  renewed. 
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RETURNED  TO 

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